Bid to overcome Bradford staff shortage problems

Families who care for young people with severe learning difficulties say they are at crisis point after care was cut back at a Bradford Council-run respite centre.

Brunswick Road respite care unit, in Greengates, provides overnight care for people aged five to 18 with communication and behavioural problems. But the overall quality of the centre has been judged “inadequate” by Ofsted inspectors, who identified an insufficient number of “competent trained staff”.

A report to the last meeting of the Council’s corporate parenting panel revealed problems at the unit originating from the manager’s long-term sick leave last summer.

No assistant was put in place to cover her absence, staff did not receive regular supervision and the team “appeared disillusioned”. The manager returned last September but has been hampered by staff shortages, forcing her to appoint agency workers, said the report.

Lal Saki, group service manager of social care resources in Bradford Council’s children’s social care department, said: “We have been experiencing problems recruiting sufficient qualified staff to safely operate this unit, but are about to start a recruitment drive. This has meant us having to temporarily reduce the number of services we offer for around six to eight weeks.”

Nick Freeman, 39, of Shipley, whose autistic 12-year-old stepson has attended the unit since he was five, said: “Our care package is supposed to include four overnight stays and five days a month but I have received a letter with a new rota until November and it only entitles us to four hours every six weeks.

“This has been going on now for five or six months. Slowly they have been reducing our time there. It’s taking parents to crisis point.”

The leader of the Council’s Liberal Democrat group, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, who is also the ward councillor for Idle and Thackley, said: “This is scandalous that the care facility is not providing a good quality service and users are being let down by the Council.”

Councillor Carol Beardmore (Lib Dem, Eccleshill) co-runs a before and after-school special-needs service, Snoop, in Greengates. She said she had been inundated with inquiries from parents as a result of the problems at Brunswick Road.

Mr Saki said: “The measures now in place are temporary. It has been considerably over-subscribed for some time and we have, on the advice of Ofsted, temporarily reduced services until we can recruit more experienced and qualified staff. We will endeavour to maintain current care packages as much as possible. We intend to gradually increase services in the next six to eight weeks.”