Useful links and information
Oxfordshire County Council
Social and Community Services (for adults) and Children, Education and Families (for children)
Contact numbers for both departments:
- Weekday office hours: 0345 050 7666
- Emergency duty team (for urgent calls out of office hours): 0800 833408
- Find out more about needs assessments
- Care to help you live independently at home
- Help for people with sight or hearing impairments
- Health, recovery and wellbeing
- Getting out and about
- Equipment and adaptations
- Housing options and care homes
- Keeping safe
- Child social care
- Personal care
- Personal assistants
Other carers' organisations
- Carers UK: 020 7378 4999. Advice line: 0808 808 7777
- Carers Voice Oxfordshire 01235 520440
- Carers Trust : 0844 800 4361
Citizens Advice
The Citizens Advice service helps people to resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice. Citizens Advice website.
Benefits
State pensions
Contact the State Pensions Service
Winter fuel payments
How to claim winter fuel payments.
Hospitals and medical
Approved care agencies
Care Quality Commission: checks on hospitals, care homes and care services.
Good neighbour schemes
The help offered by good neighbour schemes may include:
- transport for appointments, hospital visits or to Day Centres
- errands, shopping or collecting prescriptions
- household tasks, minor repairs or gardening
- looking after or walking pets
- visiting or befriending
- letter writing or simple form-filling
- reading to partially sighted or blind people
- signposting to services
Some schemes also provide other community activities such as coffee mornings, lunch clubs, trips out and other social events.
Find your local good neighbour scheme in Oxfordshire.
Local agencies and organisations
- Age UK Oxfordshire: 0345 450 1276
- Barton Advice Centre: 01865 744152
- British Red Cross: 01235 552660
- Dementia Oxfordshire 01865 410 210
- Headway Oxfordshire 01865 326263 - support services for carers of people with a brain injury (including stroke)
- Independent Advice Centre, Wantage
- Mental Health Information Line: 01865 263730 (provided jointly by Oxfordshire Mind and Mental Health Matters)
- Mental Health Matters - Oxfordshire: 01865 728981
- Oxfordshire Volunteer Befriending Service 07801 482408
- Oxfordshire Family Information Service (OxonFIS)
- Oxfordshire Mind: Main office 01865 247788 or email info@oxfordshire-mind.org.uk Information line
- Oxfordshire Welfare Rights and Barton Advice Centre
- The Personal Independence Payment toolkit for support organisations
- Rethink: 01865 455878
- Rose Hill and Donnington Advice Centre Ltd
- Royal British Legion 01844 216961 (provide welfare support to service and ex-service community).
- Samaritans: 116 123 from any phone
- SEAP – Provides the NHS Complaints Advocacy Service for Oxfordshire which is free, independent and confidential. Tel: 0300 343 5718
Website: www.seap.org.uk Email: oxfordshire@seap.org.uk - SEAP flyer (pdf format, 2.4Mb) - South and Vale Carers Centre
Free independent and confidential advice, information and support. Day trips and young carers' project.
Tel: 01235 510212 (Contact us Tuesday to Friday 10am to 4pm)
Email: carers@svcarers.org.uk - Spurgeons For more information please contact Margaret Madden (Project Manager) on 01865 777224, 07854726678 mmadden@spurgeons.org
- Young Dementia UK 01993 776295
National organisations
- Action on Hearing Loss: 0808 808 0123
- Age UK: 0808 800 4050
- Alzheimer’s Disease Society: 020 7423 3500
- Arthritis Care: 020 7380 6500
- Autism helpline - National Autistic Society: 0808 800 4104
- Care quality commission 03000 616161
- Contact a Family: 0808 808 3555
- Diabetes UK: 020 7424 1000
- Disability Rights UK: 020 7250 3222
- Disabled Living Foundation (DLF) fact sheets: 0845 130 9177
- Downs’ Syndrome Association: 0845 230 0372
- Dying matters - find me help
- Epilepsy Action: 0808 800 5050
- Age UK: 020 7278 1114
- Healthtalkonline: website that lets you share other people's experiences of caring, health and illness
- Healthwatch - your spotlight on health and social care services.
- Holiday charities - The following organisations are members of Tourism For All, and are committed to offering accessible services and facilities.
- Macmillan Cancer Support 0808 808 00 00
- ME Association: 0870 444 1835
- Motor Neurone Disease Society: 08457 626262
- Multiple Sclerosis Society: 0808 800 8000
- NHS Choices, Carers Direct - your guide to care and support
- National Audio Book Library Charity - free audio books for those struggling to read. - 0207 407 9417
- National Society for Epilepsy: 01494 601400
- National Osteoporosis Society: 0845 450 0230
- Parkinson’s Disease Society: 0808 800 0303
- Patient.co.uk - trusted medical information and support
- Royal National Institute for the Blind RNIB: 020 7388 1266
- Scope (for people with Cerebral Palsy): 0808 800 3333
- Spinal Injuries Association: 0800 9800 501
- Stroke Association: 0845 303 3100
Grants