CARE FOR FIFERS COMING HOME FROM ACTIVE SERVICE
Published: 30th Jun 2010
 ST ANDREWS councillor and Provost of Fife, Frances Melville (pictured left) has spoken of the vital need to look after Fifers returning home from active service.
Fife became the first authority in Scotland to appoint an armed forces champion as part of the Community Welfare Pathway initiative to help support the physical and mental welfare of service men and women returning home to Fife.
The commitment has been formally commended by some of Scotland’s highest ranking officers. Brigadier David Allfrey, Commander 51 (Scottish) Brigade and Major Davey Harvey (first left) visited Fife House to formally commend the work undertaken by leaders of the council who have given approval to extend the help and advice available through community care and social work services to take account of military personnel. Also pictured is Fife Councillor Tim Brett, who chairs Fife's social work and health care committee.
The move comes as the ongoing conflict in which military forces are engaged, is resulting in Social Work Services nationally experiencing an increase in people who have been affected by physical and, or psychological injuries whilst on active duty. As a consequence they may require access to social work services for assessment and support.
The officers, who were welcomed by Provost Melville and colleagues said they wanted to formally express their gratitude at the: “significant steps” taken by Fife which would help build support mechanisms for those returning to civilian life after active service.
“I am hugely grateful to Fife Council for the emphasis they are placing on looking after servicemen and women - both serving and veteran.” said Brigadier Allfray.
“Fife has a tremendous pedigree in looking after their military community and I am delighted that the council has been chosen to pilot the Armed Forces Welfare Pathway in Scotland.
“We face the challenge of converting good ideas and fine intentions into action, but we have already made enormous progress. We are focusing on setting clear objectives and ‘measures of effectiveness’ and, we left the meeting with points of contact for future work and a clear idea of how to take this project forward.
“In terms of support to veterans, I sense that Scotland is leading in many areas for the United Kingdom. Scotland has a proud military heritage and the Services rely heavily on consent and support at home to enable them to operate effectively on operations and this dialogue with Fife Council represents tremendous progress!
“I hope that many of the initiatives that we develop in Fife might find favour more widely across Scotland and we are already harvesting ‘best practice’ from other local authorities to strengthen the pilot. We are linking in with the Armed Forces and Veterans Issues Team in Scottish Government , Armed Forces Champions (elected representatives) and Armed Forces Advocates (officials) in each of the 32 Local Authorities.”
Provost Frances Melville said: “We were delighted to welcome Brigadier Allfrey and Major Davey Harvey to Fife House. As champions for well-being and those that are most vulnerable in our communities, we fully recognise that military personnel on active duty may experience physical and/or mental trauma.
“Assisting individuals to access Social Work Support services when they return home can be vital to their well-being. Through the partnership links with our colleagues in the NHS and throughout the variety of Council services such as Housing, we are contributing to the welfare of local men and women as they return home to Fife.”
By taking part in the Community Welfare Pathway pilot and extending the eligibility criteria some of the benefits that Serving personnel, families and veterans can receive are: - advice about access to NHS services; information about help for veterans with mental health problems; help and advice about education; skills and careers; affordable and social housing; help with transport including Blue Badges and concessionary transport; advice about and access to, affordable childcare.
Leaflets giving more information on the range of support available to military personnel are being made available from all Social Work offices across Fife.
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