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Midlothian carers walking to patients as rising fuel costs mean they cannot afford to drive

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date17 June 2022
AuthorMarie Sharp
Publication titleEdinburghLive (Scotland)
Midlothian's head of primary care and older people's services has said it has become too expensive for some workers to use their cars for work

And she said the situation means carers need more time between appointments so they can get to their clients.

Speaking to a meeting of the Midlothian Integration Joint Board, Grace Cowan, from the local authority's health and social care partnership, said the service had taken on some pool cars to try and ease the pressure on carers.

But the board was told carers also faced more hardship because while their NHS colleagues had been given a temporary increase in their mileage allowance, those employed by the council have not.

Ms Cowan said: "We have staff moving from using a car to get between service users and having to become walkers because of the cost of fuel for them.

"We have brought in some additional pool cars to try and alleviate pressures on staff but continue to see a pressure form people moving from driving to walking, people need longer between visits and we continue to monitor the situation."

Board member councillor Derek Milligan asked if the service had looked at using...

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