Save Day Centres for People with Learning Disabilities in Brent
- LD-Family-Carer
- Closed on
- Target:
- Brent Council Executive
- Region:
- United Kingdom
Closed
We have a duty of care towards the most vulnerable in our community!
This petition is specifically concerned about People with Learning Disabilities in our local community.
Over the past few years, the Department of Health (UK) have released a myriad of documents which have led to national and local policy-making in Adult Social Care.
To put it very simply, all of these papers discuss very ambitious, noble aims anchored in the philosophy that all People with Learning Disabilities should be given equal opportunity to lead independent lives. Within that context, independence means getting a job, living in their own accommodation, and being socially and financially independent.
This is a great ambition to strive for – there is no doubt!
A fundamental flaw in the thinking ……… reality is that many do not have the functional capability to be that independent. Therefore at individual level there needs to be a right level of support to allow people to have a reasonable standard of living.
On the back of this initiative though, many local authorities have seen the opportunity to deliver cost savings. In October 2007, our council announced a "transformation" programme which essentially meant closing Day Centres. The transformation agenda did not go beyond that goal.
In the current climate, Day Centres are an easy target anyway but especially so if the people concerned can not fight back in an effective way. So here we are again, our council have announced plans to close three main Day Centres.
Our concern:
1) no one is clearly telling us what will replace the current Day Centre support and who will provide it.
2) a vast majority of the people who go to these Day Centres see it as their community centre where they meet their friends and are at ease in each other's company. So for a few hours they are socially independent of their carers.
3) The family carers value this service because it gives them a break. Many are also in employment and can only carry on being financially independent of the State if they have day care support.
The day centre Service Users & Carers in Brent have been saying since December 2007 that:
they value Day Centres and do not want them closed; it’s a vital resource and proposed closures will have significant negative impact on the quality of their lives;
they want Brent to give them freedom of REAL CHOICE: not be forced to take Direct Payments or be manipulated into accepting service options on false promises.
The Save Day Centres for People with Learning Disabilities in Brent petition to Brent Council Executive was written by LD-Family-Carer and is in the category Local Government at GoPetition.