Edinburgh carers find their voice in massive city protest

THEY feel they have stayed silent for too long – but that is all about to change. Normally hidden from public gaze, hundreds of carers, along with the disabled people they often selflessly serve, are to march through the streets of the Capital this week in a vocal demonstration against both the Scottish Government and the city council.

The protest – running from the Castle to the Scottish Parliament, and very specifically via the City Chambers – will highlight a double whammy of issues, which are prompting fury among the carer and disabled community in the city.

One is that voluntary carers – usually relatives of those in need – are facing poverty, because Government allowances are not sufficient to keep them above water financially and provide adequate care for their loved one.

The other, more immediate, issue is the highly controversial re-tendering process by the council of home-care services to around 700 of the most vulnerable people in Edinburgh.

The process, which is well under way, could see up to 40 organisations that provide intimate and specialist care for the disabled lose their contracts. These would then be passed to other groups with no experience of the person they are caring for.

At a highly-charged meeting at the City Chambers, 250 disabled people, their families, carers and lobbyists crammed in to discuss the implications of the re-tendering, which could be decided by the summer and implemented by the end of the year.

While the local authority emphasises this will be a good thing for those concerned, providing better care and reducing waiting times for services, almost everyone who spoke at the event was sceptical.

David Griffiths, the chief executive of ECAS – one of the local charities that organised the event – said turning a vulnerable person’s schedule upside down and reducing their choice was unacceptable.

He cited the risk of there being an elderly woman whose current organisation allows her to choose what time she goes to bed, but a future provider may not be able to be as flexible.

“Why should she have to go to bed at eight when she wants to go at midnight?” he said.

Others spoke of how they had been dealt with by the same carer for years on end, and the prospect of change was extremely upsetting.

There was also dismay at the absence of any council representatives at the meeting.

The administration had argued that it could not attend, because that might compromise the tendering process and it could not be seen to be giving favour to any group.

But Councillor Ewan Aitken, the former council leader and only elected member who did attend, said: “That is complete nonsense. To say coming and listening to those people will compromise anything just isn’t the case.

“This process is affecting real people and real lives, and I urge you all to fight this all the way.”

Health and social care leader Councillor Paul Edie said he felt a “strong sense of responsibility” to those who were in need of care, including those currently on waiting lists.

“This tendering process, which was agreed to by all parties last year, is taking place in order to improve quality and equalise charging levels.

“It will enable us to provide more people with the care they deserve.

“The council has met service providers to discuss details of the commissioning process and answer their questions. As we are now into a formal tendering process, it would be illegal to either alter or halt the process.”

Wednesday’s march departs from the Castle at 1pm.