"Home First team from Hairmyres Hospital Cambuslang/Rutherglen"

My Dad had a hip operation when he left home a care package was put in place as he lives alone. This service was for a limited period of roughly 6weeks. This was a great service for our family. My Dad came home unable to do very much himself. The following day after his discharge from hospital the HomeFirst Team visited us. Immediately Heather the occupational therapist assessed his requirements and actions were immediately put in place. This included morning and evening carers and Catriona a physiotherapist all to help Dad get back to being independent again.

Within 4 weeks my Dad didn’t need help in the evening and the following week he was completely independent again. It was thanks to Heather giving him encouragement to do things for himself. She has a very thorough and positive manner. During this 6 week period another girl Catriona visited regularly, she was very good encouraging Dad to do exercises to strengthen his muscles in his leg. These exercises were at a perfect pace for Dad. He followed them exactly as he was told to. His exercises were increased gradually and within a few weeks he went from walking with a walker with quite a bit of difficulty to walking with one sticking in the house and two sticks outdoors, it was fabulous to see such improvement and again that was thanks to the encouragement he got from Heather,Catriona and all the carers that came to the house.

As a family we would have struggled to achieve anywhere near this level of mobility.