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Derbyshire Tories target old and disabled
The Tories at Derbyshire County Council have launched a comprehensive attack on vital services for older and disabled people.
They are proposing to:
- Introduce charges for home care (the home help service)
- Restrict the number of people who are eligible for the service
- Cut top-up grants for disabled people to adapt their homes
- Stop paying maintenance charges for stair lifts and hoists
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And in a shock announcement on Radio Derby, Cllr Charles Jones, Cabinet Member for Adult Care, said that two thirds of DCC residential care homes would be closed. This was despite having agreed just the day before that there would be a full public consultation in October before any decisions were made.
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Labour's flagship free HOME CARE service to end
Under Labour, Derbyshire County Council had an excellent national reputation for its services for older and disabled people, including the free home help service; Derbyshire being the only council in England to offer a free service. This is now under threat, with a proposed charge of £23.90 per week for most people, although this could rise to £200 per week in some cases.
Labour also ensured that the service was available to all who needed it. Anyone who was assessed as having moderate care needs was entitled to help. The Tories are planning to restrict the service to people with substantial care needs. There are currently 6,000 people with moderate needs who face the ordeal of a re-assessment and the real prospect of having the service taken away.
Tory Cabinet Member puts a blight on ALL Derbyshire County Council Residential Homes
Cllr Jones declared on Radio Derby that all Derbyshire County Council’s residential homes are ‘not fit for purpose for the future and not fit for purpose for today.’ That may be his view but it is certainly not the view of the Care Quality Commission, the national body responsible for inspecting and regulating all care homes, both in the public and private sectors.
All DCC’s homes are rated by the Care Quality Commission as either good (2 stars) or excellent (3stars) for the quality of their physical environment.
By declaring that two thirds of the council’s homes must close, Cllr Jones is effectively holding the axe over all of them. Who now will choose a DCC home for themselves or their loved ones if there is the prospect of massive upheaval to come? By painting such a damning picture of the state of the council’s homes, he is undermining our hard-working and dedicated staff, who already feel demoralised because problems with the new payroll system mean that many of them are not being properly paid for the work they do.
And most cruelly of all, the people who thought they had a secure and comfortable home with Derbyshire County Council will now be worrying whether their home will be one of those facing the chop.
Why is all this happening?
The Derbyshire Tories blame the aging population and say that resources won’t stretch that far. At a time when the number of older and disabled people is increasing, the Tory response is to cut the budget by £10 to £12m per year.
But when they took office in June 2009 the council finances were the healthiest they had been for decades, with £64million in general reserves. The budget for this year (2010-11) had a surplus of £4.277m which could have been spent on Social Care services, but which was also put into reserves
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Derbyshire County Council’s Labour Group Leader, Cllr Anne Western said ‘Like their national leaders, the Derbyshire Tories say they have no choice. But there is always a choice. Politics determines which choices we make. When Labour ran Derbyshire County Council we made sure we had money put away for a rainy day. Now we have a Tory council and a Con-Dem government, the rainy day is here, but rather than use the money we had saved they are proposing cuts. The fact that the Tories have chosen to make the elderly and disabled their first target for cuts tells you all you need to know.’
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Labour councillors will be forcing a debate on these issues at the next full Council meeting, to be held on Wednesday 8th September at 2pm at County Hall, Matlock. This meeting is open to the public and we would urge people to come along and let the Tories (and Lib Dems) know they will not accept this decimation of this essential service for our elderly residents.
Footnote - Derbyshire County Council runs 27 residential homes for older people, providing accommodation and care for over 800 people. |
