Monday, April 25, 2005
Wandsworth Council letting down the elderly
One of the issues that regularly crops up when canvassing pensioners is the way this Tory Council has over the years closed down pensioner day centres, residential homes and other facilities for the elderly.
The Tories only provide what they are required to by law. I am grateful to my colleague Councillor Pam Tatlow for bringing to my attention her concerns that the council is not investigating alternative providers of services for the Fairlight Day Centre in Tooting, once the contract with the current providers, the Shaftesbury Society, ends.
It appears that no instructions have been given to officers at any level in Social Services to make approaches or to investigate alternative providers to ensure the provision at the Fairlight Day Centre in Tooting and Robert Joy Day Centre in Putney is continued.
Cllr Tatlow has written to the Tory councillor responsible for Social Services asking for her urgent assurance that alternative providers will be explored to ensure that these day centres continue. It was never the intention of the Social Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee that alternative provision was to mean simply re-directing current users to other services that already exist. It is self-evident that if Shaftesbury is not prepared to continue (and they are not) and no alternative providers are explored by the council then inevitably the Fairlight and Robrt Joy Day Centres will be closed and the social provision that they currently provide will be lost in July.
This would be disastrous, not just for the elderly who currently use the day centres, but for future generations of users.
Sadiq
The Tories only provide what they are required to by law. I am grateful to my colleague Councillor Pam Tatlow for bringing to my attention her concerns that the council is not investigating alternative providers of services for the Fairlight Day Centre in Tooting, once the contract with the current providers, the Shaftesbury Society, ends.
It appears that no instructions have been given to officers at any level in Social Services to make approaches or to investigate alternative providers to ensure the provision at the Fairlight Day Centre in Tooting and Robert Joy Day Centre in Putney is continued.
Cllr Tatlow has written to the Tory councillor responsible for Social Services asking for her urgent assurance that alternative providers will be explored to ensure that these day centres continue. It was never the intention of the Social Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee that alternative provision was to mean simply re-directing current users to other services that already exist. It is self-evident that if Shaftesbury is not prepared to continue (and they are not) and no alternative providers are explored by the council then inevitably the Fairlight and Robrt Joy Day Centres will be closed and the social provision that they currently provide will be lost in July.
This would be disastrous, not just for the elderly who currently use the day centres, but for future generations of users.
Sadiq
