Care Reduction Concerns As Funding Cuts Start To Bite

Charities in Inverness are having to scale back services as a cut in Highland Council’s support for voluntary organsiations begins to bite. Crossroads, which provides respite care, has written to all its clients informing them that its service will be reduced across the board, while Age Concern has been forced to abandon plans to fill a vacant post after its grant was cut by £20,000.

Ken MacKinnon, Inverness area Council for Voluntary Services (CVS) chairman, believes more reductions in provision are inevitable as CVS members come to terms with their slimmed-down budgets. One organisation is facing a cut of £100,000, he revealed. “In some ways the bigger people are not the bigger casualties,” Mr MacKinnon said.

“Services will be cut, but they will still be there — the smaller organisations might just give up the ghost. There’s no doubt that these cuts could prove quite severe. There are other organisations in the past that have folded when times were tight and there’s no reason to assume that that won’t happen again. Everyone is fighting for a share of the same overall pot.”

The local authority cut its funding of the voluntary sector by £500,000 this financial year, with a further £300,000 reduction to come over the next 12 months.

Ian McNamara, Crossroads (Inverness) chairman, said that below inflation increases in funding had effectively meant cuts in each of the last five years for his organisation, which has used up its reserves providing care for the increasing number of autisitic children being referred.

“The background is that over the last few years we have eaten into our reserves to provide the level of care that is needed,” he said. “We have been in negotiations with the council but they are not in a position to help. It is not impossible that, as a result of this, there will be cases of people having to move into long-term residential care earlier than otherwise would of happened.”

Carers receive an average of between five and six hours respite a week at the moment, but that will be reduced by about an hour a week and very few new cases will be accepted. “We have had no alternative but to reduce the level of service across the board and I wouldn’t be optimistic about it going back up in the near future,” Mr McNamara added. Crossroads last year provided 19,500 hours of respite care to its 110 clients including Liz Gilchrist, who cares for 90-year-old Elsie Howitt of Milton of Leys,

Ms Gilchrist was angry to learn of the cuts and feared for the future. “We are told there is less money available for care of the elderly in our society, but there is no problem finding it for large salaries and ‘pay offs’ for the council’s chief executive,” she said. “I have had 25 years caring for the elderly, much of that time in nursing, and I understand how difficult it can be for those who have no other support. My concern is not so much for my personal situation, but for the many other carers.

“The Crossroads service enables me a few hours to enjoy personal time out without worrying about Elsie’s wellbeing as she is looked after by wonderful carers. I cannot sing their praises too highly for the invaluable service they provide. Where will the next cuts hit? No doubt it will be the vulnerable members of our society who will suffer. Clearly we are living in a disposable society and the elderly are directly affected and are now being defined as liabilities.”

A spokeswoman for Highland Council regretted the situation. “The Highland Council has a contract with Crossroads to provide agreed levels of care and although we have not cut the funding we give, regrettably we are not able to increase this amount to cover their shortfall,” she said.