​Jennifer Pierce found support for carer lacking in the Aberdeenshire area, so she created a group offering advice, information and support

Three years ago I was given the best piece of advice of my life. It was from a colleague in my old job who said: “You can moan, you can stress, you can go off in a bad mood, but the problem will still be there where you left it. But if you really want to solve it, you’ll find a way.”

At the time I was facing long-term care problems with my mum, who has since died. I now face the same issues with my mother-in-law but the whole episode in trying to place my mother in adequate care made me sit up, take stock and do something about it.

As a result I created the Northern Lights Carers Group to help those in rural settings to get advice, support and information on how to access care for their loved ones.

While we can’t supply the care, we can make carers better informed and more confident to make decisions which ultimately affect the future health and well-being of their loved ones

Dealing with statutory services isn’t just difficult, it’s a minefield. I’d no experience when my own mother first needed support and quickly found myself in the middle a sea of differing opinions and contradictions.

Even council officers would routinely give me the wrong information, not on purpose but simply because they were practically clueless about services on offer.

Alongside three other carers we created the group on the basic principle we would cut through the misinformation to give carers accurate, relevant advice when they need it.

Advice can be crucial, there are very good medical professionals and social workers who are well versed and able to direct you to services but they are few and far between.

While we can’t supply the care, we can make carers better informed and more confident to make decisions which ultimately affect the future health and well-being of their loved ones.

My mother, who had dementia, was in five different residential homes before ending up in a privately-run nursing home. I sold my house to pay for this provision because the level of care needed just wasn’t available.

This isn’t an isolated situation. I’ve heard literally hundreds of accounts from carers facing the same problems though many can’t afford any alternative to the care that is on offer.

Yet we have a rapidly aging population and my fear is if services just now can’t cope, they’ll be easily overwhelmed in the next 10 years if the current state of provision is anything to go by.

Before I became a carer I was fully supportive of statutory welfare services. I still am – if it works well, but experience tells me it doesn’t so therefore we need better solutions.

I’ve become a convert to the community care approach, where local people work between themselves to support their loved ones. There are some good examples across the country but they are few and far between.

I no longer work, which is just as well because the group takes up increasingly large amounts of my time. Recently we've found ourselves briefing politicians and civil servants which means we’re growing in stature.

Ideally groups like ours shouldn’t really exist; in an ideal world the state would provide all. But that’s just not the way it is – or ever will be – so we see ourselves as providing an essential service.