Anger at proposals to close Sheffield dementia centres

THE angry daughter of an Alzheimer’s sufferer is calling for a campaign against plans to close three homes which provide specialist dementia care.

Sheffield Council is proposing to shut three centres which provide residential, respite, community and day care – putting more than 200 jobs at risk.

Patricia Hague plans to write to former Home Secretary David Blunkett, Labour MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, in a bid to see the matter – exclusively revealed by The Star this week – discussed by Prime Minister David Cameron.

Her 93-year-old mother Alice Littlewood has used day care at Norbury Resource Centre, Norwood, for several years.

Patricia, aged 69, said: “It needs a big campaign to get behind this.

“My mum is bad with her condition and without her going to Norbury we’d be in the madhouse.

“The disease takes a toll on families and the work of these centres is outstanding.

“Mum gets to see people – if she didn’t go she’d be sat inside her flat looking at the four walls.

“She would be very upset if she knew about this.”

Norbury, Bolehill View resource centre in Crookes and Hurlfield View in Gleadless Common, managed by Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation on behalf of the council, could all close if the proposals go ahead.

The idea was approved by the council’s cabinet last week, but has been met with shock by city patient groups, charities and trade unions, who had not been informed.

However, proposals must be considered by the full council in March before they come into force and a public consultation is to be launched.

Patricia, of Musgrave Road, Shirecliffe, said she was ‘disgusted’ at hearing the news.

She said: “Nobody had been informed. The people that go to these homes weren’t and it feels like everything has been done behind closed doors.

“Our council ought to hang their heads in shame – they don’t know anything about the people using these homes.

“The council says they’re not viable, but there’s nothing wrong with them.”

A council report said the three centres earmarked for the axe were ‘no longer fit for purpose’ and the service could be more cheaply provided in the public sector.

The authority also said it was working with partners to provide the best service for people with dementia, whether in their own homes or in care.