We had a good turnout on a bright, if blustery, day to hear Alex from Age UK Buckinghamshire tell us about the Charity and the services they offer. Age UK is the coming together of Age UK, Age Concern and Help the Aged into a single charity and Age UK Buckinghamshire is our local branch. They have 40 paid staff and a host of volunteers, together they offer a wide range of services from information and advice to befriending and even a discharge support service for people coming home after a stay in Stoke Mandeville or Wexham Park Hospitals.
The information and advice service is available 9.30am – 1.30pm Monday to Friday and the advisors can be contacted by phone or email. They can help with questions on allowances, care and care funding and the service is open to anyone. The Welfare Benefits service is part of the advice service and can help with completing benefit application forms. They have 23 volunteers who are fully trained to do home visits to help with completing forms and advising on whether people could claim other benefits. Attendance allowance is one such potential benefit, this isn’t means tested and is based on personal care needs, Alex stressed that if people are eligible for it they don’t have to use it to provide care they can use it as they wish. Last year the team helped people across Buckinghamshire to claim over £2 million in benefits.
A Befriending service is also available for people who are alone or feeling lonely. Funding from the National Lottery fund has also enabled the ‘Boost’ service. This is for people who want to get out and engage but don’t have the confidence to get started. Volunteers help them to work out what they want to do and then support them for six months to help them engage with the group of their choice, attend meetings and make new friends.
The Discharge Support Service helps people who’re coming home following a stay in Stoke Mandeville or Wexham Park Hospitals. People have to be referred by the NHS to use this service which provides help to get them home and settled and get essential shopping done and prescriptions picked up.
You can contact the information and advice service on 01296 431911 Monday to Friday between 9.30am and 1.30pm. Or you can contact them by email on age@ageukbucks.org.uk.
All the information about the services Age UK Buckinghamshire offer is available on their website Age UK Buckinghamshire.
Age UK also offer a wide range of information guides and factsheets providing help and advice on a wide range of topics which can be provided as paper copies or can be downloaded from the national Age UK website.