Bolton pensioners in protest over fears of carer cuts

PENSIONERS from a housing scheme have urged Town Hall bosses not to axe their full-time carers. The Maxton House residents held a protest outside Farnworth Town Hall yesterday before attending a Bolton Council drop-in session about changes to sheltered housing across the borough.

Last month, it was revealed how almost a third of Bolton’s flats and bungalows, currently lived in by elderly people, will be turned into council homes in a huge shake-up of sheltered housing.

Although Maxton House in Farnworth, which is a mix of sheltered housing and extra care homes and has carers on hand all day, is not threatened with being turned into council housing, residents fear that their full-time regular carers will be replaced by staff from agencies.

And the residents claim that if that happens, then agency staff will make just two visits a day.

Celia Potts, aged 87, said she was recently visited by two carers, who she did not know, from an agency.

She said: “I didn’t like it because I did not know who they were.

“I wouldn’t take my medication and they got angry with me.

“The carers we have are our friends and it is nice to hear their voice when they come in.

“When it is someone I don’t know I go back into myself and it is very upsetting.”

Another resident of Maxton House, Joyce Booth, aged 69, does not receive the extra care provision.

But she said: “The carers are there from 7.30am to 10pm and they are not just carers but part of the community there.

“They organise activities for everyone and that keeps people active.

“If they replaced them with agency staff then the residents who needed the extra care would get one visit at breakfast and another in the evening.”

Pensioners handed over a petition to Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi, who will today meet with Bolton Council’s director of adult services, John Rutherford, to discuss residents’ fears.

She said: “The council is being forced into making cuts but what we want to say to that is it needs to keep the carers at places like Maxton House.

“If it doesn’t then there is the risk the lack of full-time care could lead to a bigger burden on resources in the long-run because of a deterioration of health of the residents.”

A council spokesman said: “We do not employ any agency staff at Maxton House or any of our extra care sites and have no plans to do so in the future. We do employ bank staff who cover when regular carers are on holiday or sick leave, but these staff are employed by the council and provide the same level of care as regular carers.

“We are consulting on the future of our extra care services, but absolutely no decisions have been made at this stage about this or any other adult social care services in Bolton.”