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Good Practice in Rural Development
No.8
Innovative Methods of Service Delivery in Rural Scotland:A Good Practice Guide
4. Mobile facilities
Living in rural areas often means that car ownership can be a necessity as those people dependent on public transport often find that it can be infrequent. Additionally, relatives or friends who can help may not live nearby to gain access to services.
People with restricted mobility, for example, older people, young children, people with disabilities, those who cannot afford a car or cannot drive are vulnerable to exclusion from key services. If people cannot visit or access the service then, alternatively, the service can come to the people.
Mobile service facilities are not an innovative idea in themselves - mobile shops, fish vans and mobile banks have long been a feature in rural Scotland. Various services can be provided from a mobile facility such as benefits advice, training, library services and childcare facilities.
This type of service delivery can be useful due to its flexibility, cost effectiveness, and ability to reach remote/inaccessible communities.
There are problems with this method of service delivery. For example, mobile facilities still require somewhere to park and often people most at risk of social exclusion may still require transport to and from the facility.
Word of mouth is a good means of advertising for such services as people become aware of the days and times the mobile facility visits their area.
4.1 Buchan Dial-a-Community Bus
Method of delivery: mobile facilities
Source of funding: Rural Community Transport Initiative.
Contact:http://www.buchanweb.org/dialabus/db_pages/welcome.htm
The Buchan Dial-a-bus project was set up in 1993 by a group of volunteers using a borrowed Social Services bus to run a once-weekly service. Volunteers organised the service and acted as escorts for the service-users, whilst off-duty policemen drove the bus.
In 1998, the project merged with the local Community Bus group to create Buchan Dial-a-Community-Bus. The Community Bus was managed initially by volunteers, through the Central Network Development Group.
By joining the two groups together, a much stronger case for funding was put forward as well as providing an extended Dial-a-Bus service and a Community Bus use facility. The buses were operational by July 2000. Both buses are 16-seaters or seat 14 people plus one wheelchair. A third, 9-seater bus was on the road in 2002, providing a patient transport service.
The Dial-a-Bus serves the Central Buchan area and is available for use by any elderly disabled, rurally or socially isolated person who may have difficulty using public transport or who has no access to public transport, with a nominal charge irrespective of destination. Escorts can be provided for people should they need a little help e.g.; pushing a wheelchair, helping with shopping or simply accompanying the person on the journey. Training in passenger assistance, minibus driving and evacuation from a minibus is available and basic first aid is also covered. A wheelchair is also available if a person does not own one. The Dial-a-Buses all have disabled access and a tail-lift.
A further successful application has been made to the RCTI for an evening youth transport project. This will be integrated with the evening library service that is currently run for elderly people on Wednesday nights. This service will be delivered in partnership with the Community Education Department at Aberdeenshire Council.
4.2 Orkney Blide Trust
Method of delivery: mobile facilities, mobile staff.
Source of funding: Orkney Health Board, Orkney Islands Council
Contact:http://www.orkney.org/community/VAO/blidetrust.htm
Orkney Blide Trust aims to provide opportunities for people with mental health problems to meet others with similar difficulties and promote social inclusion. The Trust works with people to find the best way of addressing their own problems, emphasising individual empowerment.
The Orkney Blide Trust operate a Travelling Day Centre which has been running since 1995, with charge-free visitations spread throughout the Orkney mainland and also Stronsay and Hoy. There are plans to expand the service to the Northern isle of Sonsay as well. The visitations target people that cannot easily get to services in Kirkwall, affording them the opportunity to socialise, get information and talk about their problems in a relaxed environment.
The client-groups have the option to either receive care in their own homes or they can visit the travelling day centre in their area. As issues of client confidentiality tend to be more pronounced on the outer islands, people often prefer to access the service in their homes.
The Travelling Day Centre is complimented by floating support carried out by three trained and experienced, part-time, Blide Trust Support Workers. The floating support is aimed at helping people to continue living independently in their communities and also to assist people who do not wish to go through statutory agencies. The Trust is funded to provide up to 24 hours a week, allowing 8 hours a week for 3 clients. Care Plans are drawn up for each client, but the focus is very much on short-term, flexible support that is complimentary, rather than alternative, to the statutory services.
The Support Workers provide a peripatetic service, with the onus on increasing the individual's capacity to function within a normal, day-to-day living environment. Thus, the workers help with practical, household tasks such as washing, cooking and budgeting, as well as providing a valuable information resource on social services and benefits. Most importantly, the Orkney Blide Trust provide a semi-formal support network, this helps the client to re-establish leisure and occupational activities and re-integrate themselves into the community.
4.3 The Screen Machine
Method of delivery: mobile facilities.
Source of funding: The National Lottery; Highlands and Islands Enterprise; Scottish Screen; the Post Office.
Contact:http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/Screen_Machine.html
The Screen Machine is a mobile cinema operated by a partnership between Hi Arts, an independent charitable company, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and The Scottish Arts Council. The main aim is to bring a cinema experience of the highest quality and up-to-date films to remote communities in the Highland area. An initial feasibility study was commissioned in 1994, the vehicle went out on the road for its pilot tour in 1998. There are 3 full-time operational staff.
The Screen Machine is a 17m lorry with a 4 by 2m screen, 101 seats, and its own power supply. The cinema mainly operates from public buildings, such as schools and car parks - places where there is easy access to public toilet facilities. The films shown tend to be mainstream Hollywood films. However, on occasion, the Screen machine does take requests from communities. The Screen Machine is on tour seven weeks at a time from January to July and September to December. The mobile service is available to communities throughout the Highland Council area and villages over one and half-hour's drive from Inverness and Thurso.
4.4 Lessons Learnt in Practice
Mobile facilities can be expensive to run but are an effective means of taking services out into remote communities. However, there is little point in doing this unless there is effective advertising to let people know where and when the service will be visiting. The provision of mobile facilities does not necessarily target vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, older people, young people, and people with limited access to transport. It would be beneficial if additional transport was provided for people who would still find it difficult to get to the mobile facility.
The case studies highlight additional issues that should be considered when using mobile facilities to visit rural areas. The Buchan-Dial-a-Community-Bus serves to illustrate the serious transport and access problems faced by some rural communities. Utilising volunteers as escorts is a further means of helping people retain links with their communities and the project has an intergenerational quality with the transport used simultaneously by the evening library service and the evening youth transport project.
The Orkney Blide Trust pointed out that floating support deals with issues of confidentiality such as mental health difficulties, which are still perceived as a stigma by many people. The outreach services allow people on the outer islands to access mental health services without the need to travel to the mainland. Sometimes, however, people can become dependent on the service and, consequently, moving them on from the service can be difficult.
It is easy for outreach services to become 'stuck in a rut' but the Blide Trust is trying to upgrade the Travelling Day Centre and provide access to information for those who want it as well as those who need it.
'Befriending' schemes not only help the client-groups but the volunteers themselves by providing them with new training and skills. The Orkney Blide Trust also promotes social inclusion by stimulating understanding of mental health issues and bringing people closer together. A key point to note here is that particular attention must be paid to the recruitment, training, motivation and retention of volunteers.
The Screen Machine experienced technical problems in the first six months of operation, mainly because spare parts were extremely difficult to procure. Hi Arts had contacted, for example, mobile libraries for advice but this was of limited use due to the differences in the nature of services being provided. There was also limited advice available about practical requirements, such as road or bridge dimensions in the target area when planning the route to follow.
Moreover, Hi Arts were unaware when they applied for Lottery funding that special regulations would apply to the vehicle and that there were special procedures that would have to be followed before it could be mobilised. In hindsight, they feel that more time spent on funding applications would have been beneficial in identifying potential difficulties in providing the service.
It has been noted that mobile facilities do not necessarily reach people living in the more peripheral rural communities. Thus, the provision of mobile staff either through outreach services in community buildings or home-visits can be an invaluable means of providing services and simply giving vulnerable or excluded people someone to talk to, without having to travel.
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