Shopper-Aide
Argyll and Bute Council · 5 November 2025
Back to Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area Community Planning Group — 5 November 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Report – Shopper-Aide Following on from the Shopper-Aide survey report earlier in 2025, Antonia Baird (Argyll and Bute Council) worked with us to set up a Focus Group Listening Café which took place on 1st September in Campbeltown. We were looking at three main points – 1.What does independence mean for an older person 2.What does Shopper-Aide do well and what more could they do, 3. What more can be done for older people in Kintyre. Attendance was not great – public 60+ years were invited along with representatives from Health and Social Care departments and other service organisations who connected with older people. Also attending were Councillors Douglas McFadzean and John Armour. The session was over 4 hours and we had apologies from a number of people who due to health, weather and time constraints were unable to attend. Thus there was a majority of people from work place at the Campbeltown group. Visits were later made to two older people groups in Southend and Carradale to ascertain views there. Results from each group brought up some interesting points with regard to how the questions were perceived and answered. However, many points were common to all three groups and at the same time highlighted that issues from the survey were also shown to be of the most concern for older people in Kintyre. Accessible transport especially in rural areas, signposting information about resources – how do people know what is going on or who to contact – there is the assumption everyone is digitally connected. Being able to maintain physical health and functioning – including the use of aids and adaptations if it means staying at home with the opportunity to stay connected to the local community. More support workers who can spend more of their allocated time to help reduce isolation and loneliness. Having a good support network to help people stay in their own home. Independence is different for everyone; including the ability to do things that they value. Making your own decisions – even if it takes time and can change as you age e.g. doing a task, how can you make it safe, having self-respect and not being written off or lumped together (just because you are over a certain age), being able to drive especially in rural areas with no other transport means. The question on Shopper-Aide itself was very positive – for which I, Susan Paterson, was very pleased about and we did have some suggestions of what more we could do and this will help towards guidance for funding.
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Shopper-Aide was seen to be a ‘vital service’ for many – personal contact both in person and via phone, providing welfare checks for clients whether already getting support from other services or not. Their expertise in being able to adapt services as clients age. While there was much praise for Shopper-Aide, staff volunteers and the services they do it is noted that with funding more could be done but there also needs to be cooperation from other agencies. While more volunteers would be good we cannot rely on them to ensure services are covered fully and staffing, running vehicles and managing is also costly. The third question looked at what could be better as a whole there are many common points from each of the groups and ones which need to be addressed to help, not just Shopper-Aide but services in general. STRENGTHS TO GROW • Transport • Social groups • Signposting • Physical activity • Healthy eating BARRIERS TO DELIVERY • Funding • Lack of Volunteers • Distances • Cost of maintaining vehicles and recruiting drivers • Inconsistent links with HSCP Furthermore, who takes responsibility to address these points: Statutory services – lack of funding and not in their remit covers many of these points Third Sector – Charities, Social Enterprise, voluntary groups/people – all of which takes time and money. The Southend group would like to set up a lunch club but as illustrated above – from organising, funding and managing it is a costly and time consuming task. Conclusion – Common problems which are barriers to support include - transport needs, lack of sign posting/need a Directory of contacts, funding to help with staffing and running costs for various organisations, volunteers to help support services. However, it would be impossible for Shopper-Aide to be able to take on ways to address these issues on their own or without funding and support from statutory and independent services to improve the lives of many in their third age.