Adult day care centres under review

There are fears that day care centres for adults with learning disabilities could face cuts as part of a review by the Health and Social Care Board.
The Board said the review is being carried out under a vision set out in the Bamford Review, which aims to enable people with learning disabilities to lead full and meaningful lives in their communities.

As part of this, investment has been put into community-based day opportunities rather than relying solely on traditional day care centres.

These opportunities include social and educational activities as well as work and vocational training based in the community.

“We’ve been doing this now for a number of years in light of the Bamford Review with great success,” Aidan Murray, from the Health and Social Care Board explained.

“People who have moved to those services tell us that they are very happy there and more people are asking to move to those services, especially young people coming through school.

“We think those opportunities should also be available for people who are using traditional building-based day centres. We are investing in both.”

He continued: “I can assure people that there are no plans to close day centres, we are consulting closely with Trusts, we talk to them and we only would be moving forward with anything after any review when it had been shared with families and the people who use the services.”

In a statement, the Health and Social Care Board stressed that no decisions have been made and they are reviewing how changes will be implemented across Northern Ireland.

They also said an increase in day opportunities “will inevitably lead to a reshaping of the traditional day centre model of care”.

The Board said the redevelopment of the services may take up to five years in some areas.