YOUNG PATIENT FAMILIES FUND

We know just how expensive it can be for families who need to travel to visit a child who is an inpatient in hospital, we know how important those visits are to everyone, and we also know that many people are not aware of their entitlements, so we will make a point of regularly highlighting the help that is available, both on the CHAT website at caithnesshealth.com and on the CHAT FB page.

Today we are going to tell you about the “Young Patient Families Fund” – and we are pretty sure that a lot of people don’t know about this, so we are going to ask you to share the FB post as widely as you possibly can, to make sure that nobody misses out.

This fund is a Scottish Government initiative – link below – and it is intended to help people cope with the costs of visiting a child (under 18) who is an inpatient. The introductory paragraph says:- “If you’re the parent, primary carer or sibling (aged under 18) of a young inpatient under the age of 18 receiving hospital care, you can claim for the costs of travel and food”.

There is a fair bit of help available:- a return car journey per day, meals, a contribution to accommodation costs, and even parking charges, can be claimed for. As always, there are terms and conditions to study, but the claiming process is basically quite simple, and, if you work through the link, you will be able to access leaflets giving you all the information you need, and a downloadable claim form, but remember that if you need any help or guidance, CHAT are always here to assist.

Here is the link to the mygov.scot page, where you can read all the details:-

https://www.mygov.scot/young-patients-family-fund

We really hope this helps – and please remember to share.