Fife Council workers have selflessly stepped into new roles to keep delivering vital services across the region.
In an exclusive interview with The Courier, chief executive Steve Grimmond paid tribute to health professionals and local authority employees.
Critical public services are being delivered, from 24-hour care in homes, meals on wheels services, emptying the bins and manning the region’s 29 makeshift children’s activity centres.
Mr Grimmond said: “We’ve clearly got a number of frontline services that we need to keep running and they are increasingly working in emergency mode, just with the sheer challenge they are facing.
“We’ve got a number of staff working from home, and staff who are either having to self-isolate or who are unwell.
“One of the things we’ve been doing is focusing on is how we can try to ensure we can shift and move staff who are willing to work in other areas and I’ve been really heartened by the sheer volume of staff prepared to turn their hands to whatever’s needed.
“Quite a lot of roles may need some element of basic training, while some are more restrictive in terms of PVG checks, for example, but we’ve found that there’s a fair number of staff who have these skills already and can move into other roles quite quickly and easily.
“We’re trying to identify the roles that are under real critical pressure, and then we’ve got to identify who we’ve got in the workforce who are willing and able and can move into other roles, and match up those skillsets.”
The council has also teamed up with Fife Voluntary Action to launch a service to help co-ordinate people.
Through the Helping Hand register, people will be signposted to appropriate charities or community groups.
Fife Voluntary Action has also partnered with NHS Fife, Fife’s health and social care partnership and the council to launch a prescription delivery service.
