Campaign against Nottingham adult care changes stepped up

PROTESTS are being stepped up against proposed cuts to help vulnerable adults in Nottingham. Residents said they were appalled at the city council’s proposal to absorb its deaf team into a larger department, during a public meeting organised by Unison yesterday.

It is feared that the move will lead to cuts in the number of deaf support workers, who provide home care and sign language interpreters.

The city council has admitted that 27 people from its adult care department are set to lose their jobs, but does not yet know how many of these, if any, are likely to be deaf support workers.

Around 20 deaf people sat on the tram tracks in the city centre last month for ten minutes as a protest against the plans.

A further protest is now being planned for May 4, outside the Council House, at 12.30pm.

Adrian Picton, Unison convener for adult services in the community at Nottingham City Council, said: “People who are profoundly deaf need home care workers.

“It is clear that the council is once again this year targeting the people most in need but they’ve underestimated the power of the community.”

Staff on the deaf team are trained in sign language and “deaf culture” and people at the meeting claimed they provide an essential service, which is already overstretched.

Gloria Pullen, 66, of Eastwood, who is deaf and uses a sign language interpreter, said: “I’m concerned about the deaf community. The council forgets us all the time.”

The council’s plans to close Riverside Care Home, in Bulwell, for people with learning disabilities, reorganise day care services and withdraw council day care from residents in private residential homes were also criticised at the meeting, organised by Unison.

Peter Jones, whose 30-year-old son attends the Summerwood Day Centre, in Clifton, said: “The council doesn’t seem to clarify its spending properly. Instead of protecting its essential services for vulnerable people they’re seen as a first target.

“What I don’t understand is how a council can afford to spend in excess of half a million a year sending the Arrow to every household, telling us what a great job they’re doing, when we’re having our services cut.

“The fact is somebody can lose £40m in Icelandic banks and it seems there are no repercussions. It’s as if there’s a safe place for these people where they can sit deciding what will be best for everyone else. It’s the way they spend our money – not their money – that makes me so upset.”

Elaine Yardley, of Nottingham City Council’s adult services said: “The Deaf Service for adults will be provided as part of a sensory impairment team focusing on the needs of adults, instead of being shared between adult services and children’s services, as it is now.

“At Riverside Care Home, where it is not cost effective to rebuild or refurbish the existing premises up to the standards for 21st century adult care, the city council is discussing alternative proposals with residents and their families.”