Couple's 'life-changing' £15,000 benefit upgrade that means they can put the heating on

dailyrecord.co.uk:

An East Ayrshire pensioner who cares for his wife said he was finally able to put the heating on after ‘life changing’ hospital discharge support increased couple’s finances by £15,000 a year.Officers from East Ayrshire Carers Centre, who got in touch with him about support when his wife was being discharged from hospital.East Ayrshire Integration Joint Board heard from Older People’s Support Worker, David Reid, about the work of the service.David, who is an Older People’s Support Worker, spoke about the efforts of Lorna Rowan and John Scally, who are hospital discharge workers at East Ayrshire Carers Centre.David told East Ayrshire Integration Joint Board that John and Lorna’s roles could be described as ‘smoothing’ the process for unpaid carers who are responsible for patients being discharged from hospital.The roles are more important than ever, with delayed discharges driving many of the waiting time issues in Ayrshire.David explained the approach during a presentation on Wednesday.He said that the service was in contact with patients and carers to find out what support can be put in place to allow them to be discharged effectively.He said: “There have been quite a few cases where family members are maybe not in the right frame of mind to provide care and support for the family member that would allow them to be discharged from hospital.“In some cases this can just be something as simple as making dinners.“One man’s wife was back in hospital and he came in to ask what we could do.“We identified that he had quite ill health himself.”The team then went through a benefits maximisation process that resulted in the husband receiving attendance allowance, as well as a council tax discount and other supports like free