History

The first Fife carers support project began in June 1995 with Mhairi Lochhead being employed part time to develop recognition and support for carers within Fife. In the year that followed it became clear that the level of support needed for carers in Fife was greater than could be met by one individual.


The Princess Royal Trust for Carers along with NHS Fife and Fife Council agreed to joint fund a carers’ centre for three years and Mary Stewart was taken on to manage the project. Her first major task was to find premises and before long she and Mhairi had moved into a small office in Commercial Street in Kirkcaldy. When additional funding came along to support an initiative to identify “hidden carers” within GP practice lists the centre expanded its staff to include another carer support worker and an administrator. In 1999 we had our first visit from the President of The Princess Royal Trust, Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne. Our core funding was provided by NHS Fife and Fife Council and we were seeing around 40 carers each month.


As time went on it became apparent that the centre needed additional staff to be able to cope with the demand but it was also clear that the premises would be too small so funding was gathered from various sources and new premises were bought across the road. Moving into the bigger premises in May 2007 also meant that more staff could be employed and with funding from The Big Lottery Fund, Fife Carers Centre expanded its operation to include 3 more staff. We now deal with more than 70 new contacts from carers and over 50 repeat contacts each month and the number is growing all the time.