CLAIMS that people could lose longstanding and trusted home helps because of “privatisation” of the service are being defended by Stirling Council.

Glasgow’s pioneering model of merging social work and frontline healthcare to save hundreds of millions of pounds is on the verge of collapse, The Herald can reveal.

The Borders Voluntary Community Care Forum (BVCCF) is currently carrying out a survey of all those who receive a home care service through the local authority, including services provided by independent home care providers as well as the social work department’s own in-house home care service.

Plans to build a £5m care home, training and management hub in Larbert, near Falkirk, have been lodged. Avondale Care Scotland Ltd said the proposals included a 60-bed nursing home and headquarters for the firm.

Scotland’s first helpline for men suffering from domestic abuse goes live today. Trained advisors are staffing the Men’s Advice Line – 0808 801 0327 – providing practical advice and emotional support to men who are abused by their partners.

The Scottish Government has published Care Homes, Scotland, 2009, whcih presents the latest national figures on care homes for adults in Scotland.

A leading dementia group has called for an overhaul in the way support is provided for people with the condition. Alzheimer Scotland called for more “choice and control” for sufferers and their families, and warned the status quo was “not an option.”

The owner of a care home where a fire killed 14 elderly residents said that he had opened the home so he could provide “the best standard of care” to the elderly.

Many more Scots will receive help to tackle their harmful drinking habits this year, as a result of Scottish Government funding to tackle alcohol misuse.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and Scotland’s four Social Service Learning Networks today (27 April) launched the Changing Lives: Leadership business plan 2010-2011, setting out a new strategic approach to developing effective leadership for social services.