Revealed: 30 day care centres at risk of closure in Lincolnshire
THIRTY day centres caring for hundreds of vulnerable people are facing closure under council proposals.
Lincolnshire County Council is reviewing how it spends £22.1 million a year on care services, which could give more than 1,000 elderly and disabled people their own allowances and freedom on how to use it.
But the Conservative-controlled authority has now revealed the day services it is proposing to axe.
Five in Lincoln are under threat, including Ancaster Day Centre, Quantum House, Melville Street, Sincil Bank and the tea rooms at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life.
A further 25 around the county are affected.
Parent-carer Val Campbell, of Tyne Close, North Hykeham, said she was left feeling “utterly sick” after reading the list of proposed closures.
Mrs Campbell and her husband Tom, both
in their late 60s look after their son Paul, 45, who is categorised as having critical needs because of his behavioural difficulties and epilepsy.
He attends Ancaster Day Centre five days a week, and Mrs Campbell said: “They are taking his life away.
“He was allocated to Ancaster Day Centre as it was the most appropriate setting for him and he loves it.
“If he does not go to day care, how long are we going to cope looking after him seven days a week? It will cost the council a damn sight more than day care if Paul was to go into residential care.”
As reported in the Echo, two short-break services could also be axed, including Swallow Lodge in North Hykeham and Cedar House in Spalding.
The authority also wants to stop all community supported living services.
A public consultation is under way. The proposals put 285 full-time equivalent jobs at risk.
Mr Campbell said: “The council might be saying this is a consultation to any Tom, Dick and Harry but their minds are already made up.”
The county council has said one aim is to offer people more choice on how they give their carers a break from looking after them.
This could include short holidays, football tickets or cinema trips rather than day centre visits.
But Labour group leader Councillor Robert Parker said the county council services provided “regular and reliable” respite, something cinema trips could not guarantee.
The Lincoln West member said: “People will be seriously distressed by this news.
“The message going out seems to me you never know what this Tory-controlled administration will do next. Is there no bottom to the problems they will give to vulnerable people?”
Councillor Graham Marsh, Conservative executive member for adult social care, said the authority needed to urgently review how it provides services.
Mr Marsh said: “I can assure everyone that all views will be thoroughly considered and nothing will be done until we are clear that alternatives are in place.
“While we currently have no firm proposals, it would be dishonest not to accept that there may be considerable change and it may affect a number of staff’s employment status.”
The list of services the council is proposing to stop includes: Bosscat, Field Street, Kirton, Manning Court, Scott House and Thistles, all in Boston; Hastings, Gainsborough; Gainsborough Rural Studies; Holmeleigh Day Centre, Horncastle; The Wong, Horncastle; Old Health Clinic, Market Rasen; The Warren, Market Rasen; Clarke Road, North Hykeham; Eastgate, Sleaford; North Road, Sleaford; and Ruskington, Sleaford.
