"Poor communication"

Having been registered with Lanarkshire Carers for years and attending numerous online webinars during the lockdown I would have thought applying for a Carers Assessment would have been quite straightforward.How wrong was I!

I am a parent carer to four autistic children. Although both my sons are 'adults' they still require a significant amount of support from myself daily. I am now also a carer to my husband and have been since last August due to his eyesight deteriorating rapidly and leaving him partially sighted. I had been advised by a few professionals to apply for a Carers Assessment and was first referred as a priority to Lanarkshire Carers (Airdrie) in December 2021 by a staff member from North Lanarkshire Disability Forum.

I received a call a few days later and was told I'd receive a phone call the following week. Unfortunately this did not happen, but I am very aware that things arise and let this be. I contacted Lanarkshire Carers (Airdrie) recently to request that this assessment be started and that I also wanted to apply for some funding recently made available for Carers by the Scottish Government. I was advised I would receive a call on a specific day and time. As time went on and having already been let down previously, I texted to make staff aware I no longer wanted to go ahead with this. I was so angry and upset at the time.

After speaking with fellow carers, I have discovered that I am not alone in being treated this way and this is the reason I would like to make a complaint, to make those who need to know aware of this. I understand staff may be busy but being a carer is also a 24 hour job and I certainly do not have the time to clock watch while awaiting a phone call! Can anyone please explain what the criteria is for a Carers Assessment? Personally, it should be available to all carers whether they care for one person or five like myself. No wonder this service is vastly underused if those working to help support carers can't have the decency to call or even reschedule appointments! What chance do we have of getting the relevant paperwork completed?

This experience has personally put me off requesting any kind of support from anyone and I really worry about the carers who don't have the confidence to speak out and let everyone know what is happening with these so called Carers assessments and other available funding!