Highland Senior Citizens Network facing threat to future after NHS Highland slashes £48k funding support before 30th birthday party at Inverness Town House
A crucial campaigning body for elderly Highlanders is facing a threat to its existence after NHS Highland axed most of its funding.
The Highland Senior Citizens Network (HSCN), which only last week celebrated its 30th anniversary at an Inverness Town House civic reception, will have an annual £48,000 grant from the health authority phased out to zero by next April.
That amounts to four-fifths of the charity’s total yearly turnover of around £60,000.
HSCN represents the interests of an estimated 92,000 older people in the Highlands and is said to have made a “huge difference” to how they are treated and respected.
With a membership of around 380 individuals and more than 100 older people’s organisations, it is in regular contact with more than 3000 older people, offering vital help, advice, information, support, fundraising and friendship networking to improve lives.
It also campaigns on a local and national level, while offering a far more personal, friendly and easily accessible service for elderly people than many nationwide charities.
Formed after a determined campaign by the late councillor Sheila Mackay in 1995, she declared its founding principle: “We are one community. You are not a burden on society, just because you’re getting old.
“You fought for the community, you brought it up. This is an opportunity for you to join together and make your collective voice heard.”
NHS Highland began funding the charity in 2012, encouraging the link itself as its social care work integrated more closely with that of Highland Council.
Two HSCN co-ordinators will lose their jobs as a result of the funding cut.
With the charity not allowed to apply again until 2028, it is frantically trying to source alternative funding.
Dr Ian McNamara, chairman of HSCN for the last 20 years, was angry at how NHS Highland had conducted itself ahead of the most recent three-year funding round.
He says he approached the authority in mid-March 2024 - a year ahead of the contract’s expiry - for discussions.
By the time NHS Highland agreed to meet with HSCN the following August, they were told it was too late to apply.
Dr McNamara said: “It's incredibly disappointing. NHS Highland’s management has not covered itself in glory.
Top Stories
-
Fresh Dava fire reported amid active extreme wildfire warning
-
Man fined for shouting and swearing at police officers at Aviemore railway station
-
‘Access for All’ event driving sport and culture inclusion at Aviemore
-
Billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen launches 3 luxury Loch Ness holiday cottages – including one starting at £720 a night
“What irks us the most, our board of trustees and all the people we work with, is that it will be older people and NHS Highland themselves who suffer.
“The two co-ordinators we are having to make redundant have created an amazing platform where folk from the NHS, from other organisations within the statutory and voluntary sectors, can all integrate.
“We are a proven pathway to improving older people’s lives.
“We were particularly effective during Covid by providing regular information, both digitally and manually as many of our members aren't digitally connected.
“It made a huge difference to people in those times.
“So, yes, we'll now struggle to find funding I expect, but we're not going to go down without a fight.”
Dr McNamara says the need for what HSCN does is as great now as when it was formed in 1995.
He said: “Isolation and loneliness are documented by academics and health people as being as detrimental to health as smoking something like 20 cigarettes a day.
“It's important that we have mechanisms that enable people to keep social contact and receive the right help and advice in a humane way.”
The charity is investigating the possibility of securing National Lottery funding, but has been warned the process is incredibly competitive.
Speaking at the charity’s 30th birthday party at Inverness Town House, HSCN trustee Brian Devlin said: “The recent announcement by NHS Highland that it is ending our annual budget was made in the clear knowledge that it will render us unable to carry out the work we’ve been doing.
“It was a clear indication of that other well-known principle - knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.”
A spokesman for NHS Highland said: “NHS Highland has worked with Highland Senior Citizens Network and many other third sector providers for a number of years.
“We understand that the third sector and communities have a vital role to play in supporting healthy and resilient communities and individuals.
“We receive a significant number of applications for funding from a wide range of sources.
“The process of selecting recipients… is challenging, (with) requests far in excess of our available funds.
“The changing role of services… leads to difficult decisions and means that some important activities cannot be supported by NHS Highland at this time.”
