Highland Autism group faces closure over funding woes

The only support group for adults in the Highlands had funding cut last year by NHS Highland but managed to stay open after a one-off grant from the Scottish Government and an anonymous donation.

But now, despite fundraising efforts, the charity have only been able to raise enough money to keep them running for a couple more months, until June 2019.

Ruth Strong (21) has been a member of the group for years. She said: 'We are a very little known charity yet we are doing some really amazing stuff which is quite under-appreciated. It really helps people in the local community to just live normal lives.

'The staff members talk in very different ways to different service users, and I don't feel patronised by them either. They've helped me with so many different problems I've had over the years.

'It organises events that it sets up for us where we can meet up together. A lot of people struggle to organise these kinds of things themselves. I have a really good friend who doesn't have social media or even an email address so I would completely lose contact with him.

'The NHS would end up spending more money because all the people who use the One Stop Shop to get help with their various problems, like mental health problems, they would then have to go to the NHS instead and many of them might end up in crisis.'

A spokesperson for NHS Highland said: 'The Scottish Government originally funded One Stop Shops across Scotland with the intention that they would identify ways to become self-sustaining.

'NHS Highland is supportive of the work that the Highland One Stop Shop achieves and has met with Autism Initiatives to discuss alternative models of partnership working, however the kinds of support that the OSS currently offer to autistic people is not within the current priorities of NHS Highland in these challenging financial times and therefore we are not in a position to meet their funding shortfall.'