HOME CLOSURE: No guarantees for day centres
As a Unison activist I am not a fan of social enterprise; Privatisation by the back door.
But after reading about the closure of Fulney Hall in Spalding at the end of the January, my heart goes out to all 23 families who will no longer have the respite from the mounting pressures of being a carer, that day care provides.
Mandy Crisp was very gracious in stating that it was purely for financial reasons she has been forced into making this decision, but in a week where Lincolnshire County Council have announced their budget for 2013/14, where further savings to Adult Social Care budget of £7.3 million is required, where is this money to be saved?
Our county councillors state that Adult Social Care needs to be more creative and do things differently – the reality of this statement is to close public services and get someone else to provide the service at a cheaper rate. Privatisation.
For those of us involved in the campaign to save the day centres from closure, what has happened to the Fulney Hall Day Centre is a cause for concern.
Our county councillors made a point of stating that they would not close the day centres but would over the next two years look to them being privatised.
There are no guarantees for our day centres once they are no longer run by public services; as Mrs Crisp and the other staff from Halmer Grange, who worked for her, have discovered.
When Halmer Grange closed, families and carers were reassured that there would be alternative services able to meet individual needs.
The reality is there are no other new day centres in Spalding, and for many for them to receive a day care service, this would mean a journey to Gosberton or Holbeach. Yet again it is the most vulnerable in our society who are bearing the brunt of the austerity measure cuts.
Surely as a society we should learn the lesson that we need properly funded public services which are fireproofed against market failure.
Gill Thomas
Unison Workplace rep
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Weather for Spalding
Saturday 18 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: North east
