Campaigners in final effort to keep Dundee’s Kemback Street centre open
An action group is making a last-ditch attempt to persuade Dundee councillors to save the Kemback Street centre.
The unit for people with learning disabilities has been under threat of closure for months and a final decision is set to be taken on Monday.
Campaigners claim a consultation with service users and their families is not yet complete and they are being treated with contempt.
Action group chairman George Stewart wrote to all 29 councillors, saying: ”This is not just a paper exercise about budgets.
”It is action that has immense implications on the lives of the vulnerable adults using the service.
”Some of them have been and continue to be ill over the threat to close the service.
”We are told that this exercise is all about individualisation and personalisation.
”Attending Kemback Street is the preferred personal choice of those that use the service.
”Closure of the centre against their wishes is an assault on their human rights.”
Mr Stewart claims that not all of the assessment interviews to decide what alternative support users will need have been carried out.
”In other cases interviews have been completed but no offer of new services have yet been made,” he said.
He added he was ”extremely surprised and disappointed” that social work director Alan Baird was recommending closure.
A report has been produced by Mr Baird for the council’s social work and health committee. In it, he explains that 67 meetings with service users and their carers have been carried out, with one home visit outstanding after twice being cancelled by a carer.
He adds: ”The meetings did not seek to conclude each respective care package, rather to agree the process of the service users/carers identifying a care package in keeping with identified needs.”
Councillor Ken Lynn, who is convener of the social work and health committee, said: ”I acknowledge that this has been a challenging period of change for service users and their carers. We have always made clear that any agreement about future support would take full account of the specific needs of each person and their current circumstances.
”We also made it clear that the option of support within a day centre would continue if that was required for some service users.”
He added: ”The closure of Kemback Street has not been driven by any need to save money.”
Councillors will also be asked to approve the closure of the Out and About Service, which currently helps 29 people with learning disabilities enjoy activities in the community such as swimming or going to the gym.
Mr Baird’s report says this type of service can be bought in from external providers.
He says the savings of £766,000 a year from closing Kemback Street and Out and About will be used to provide other types of support for existing service users and other adults with learning disabilities.
