Citizens Advice Bureau outreach at Nairn Town and County Hospital

Launched in April 2014 and funded by the Big Lottery Fund until July 2015 is the new Community Link & Outreach Project .

Working together Lynn Main and Tricia Frazer will work in partnership with NHS Highland, Highland Council and other agencies to support and deliver services where people can benefit from them the most.  Based for 3 days at the Nairn Healthcare Group handling referrals from the GPs, Health Visitors, Community Mental Health Teams, Hospital patients and Social Work, it will enable easy referral of clients whom in some cases can be seen immediately and allows appointments to be made for patients to suit their hospital or health service visits as well as offering a drop in service for anyone visiting the GP surgery.

Strong links will also be formed with the outreach service at the Job Club, Adult Basic Education and Citizens Online.  This will allow Nairn CAB to provide additional resources within the community to meet demand from  those seeking advice and support on a wide range of issues

Lynn Main and Tricia Frazer - CAB outreach at Nairn Hospital 

A Nairn CAB spokesperson also explained the aims of the outreach initiative:

"Our aims 

• Work with other organisations and agencies to improve quality of lives

• Provide information, support, advice and representation

• Increase accessibility to our service

• To assist an additional 700 people in Nairn

• To provide support to all departments based at the hospital

• To promote the work of the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) 

• Areas covered include welfare, benefits, debts, energy, housing, financial education and relationships

• Signposting into community support groups, and give advice on what is available locally to help people to lead healthier lives 

• Maximise incomes and effectively manage money

We are delighted with the results of the project to date and whilst still in its infancy, the project has the potential to become a great success in providing invaluable CAB services to more clients locally. "