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Changes at Firrhill Centre

As part of the ongoing review of services that began in 2008, we would like to keep you up to date with recent and future changes.

The review of day services for people with a disability has already lead to Firrhill offering support to people with a learning disability as well as those with a physical disability. Further developments are proposed and Firrhill will have an important part to play in these.

The aim is to have an equitable service for all those people with a physical disability who need our services throughout the city, while there is also increasing pressure from people with severe disability to access what are limited resources.

This will lead to further changes at the Firrhill Centre and among the developments in the pipeline are:

• Those clients over the age of 65 will be offered services within older people services (at present Firrhill is the only one of the 5 centres in Edinburgh offering support to this group)
• Those clients who live in Midlothian will have their services reviewed by Midlothian council.
• Occupational Therapists will no longer be based at Firrhill. A central team of Occupational Therapists is being formed who will provide a range of support to people with physical disabilities throughout the city.
• Firrhill will focus its centre based activities on those service users with higher levels of need. Recent guidance states that resources should be focused on those most at risk of losing their independence.
• Two development workers have been appointed who will begin to set up social opportunities across the city.
• We already offer some of our services in local community bases (e.g. community centres in Moredun and Carrickvale) and it's likely we will offer a further range of activities in this way in future. Also the "Local Area Co-ordination Team" (LAC) can provide additional support in helping clients to access their local community.
• We will also be focusing on those people with long term conditions and will aim to provide a range of rehabilitative, community focused and socially focused activities. For example we already provide a time limited rehab day for people who have had a stroke and there are proposals being developed to offer a similar service for those with other conditions.

We are aware that for many people who have attended Firrhill for a long time that these developments may lead to a difficult transition and that you may have a number of concerns.

If you wish to discuss any of the issues raised here, please feel free to contact the Centre Manager or your key worker who will be happy to discuss them in more detail.

To celebrate the landmark birthday, the Centre played host to 2 open days where service users and carers could enjoy a BBQ and mingle in the gardens.

Some beautiful new additions to the gardens were also unveiled including a pond, a fountain and some raised flower beds. The £10,000 which enabled the garden to grow was partly made up from a grant from Scottish Natural Heritage, and the rest was raised by service user and staff fund-raising efforts.

A piper from neighbouring Redford Barracks was on hand to help celebrate the day and the rest of the Centre was opened up, with a variety of arts and crafts on display.

Volunteers held a sale of plants to raise more money for future projects and one of the service users, Raymond Robb, held his first solo art exhibition.

A clock created by the service users was also unveiled for the big day:

Over the years, Firrhill has seen enormous changes in the way it operates. The Centre started life as a workshop unit, where people with disabilities could work in a safe environment. It now offers rehabilitation, social inclusion and therapeutic services to a broad range of service users.

Located in beautiful secluded gardens, with views out over the Pentland Hills, Firrhill is an ideal spot for a centre that aims to allow their clients to live life to the fullest.