Aberdeenshire social care cuts see families 'face uncertainty'
Cuts are to be made to services for adults with learning disabilities in Aberdeenshire.Eight projects will close as part of efforts to find £17m of savings at Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership (AHSCP) this year.Day centres will stay open, but fewer people will be eligible to attend, while social care transport is to be cut almost entirely.The board overseeing AHSCP said services would not be removed until alternative provision was found, but families said they were faced with uncertainty.
Aberdeenshire Integration Joint Board (IJB) said changes had to be made or it risked the financial stability of AHSCP.
The Accounts Commission warned earlier this year that the financial position of all Scotland's IJBs was "precarious".During a meeting in Aberdeen on Wednesday, Aberdeenshire IJB decided to end the use of buses and taxis to take people to services.Board members also halved the number of activity hubs for older people and opted to outsource the vast majority of at-home care.
Families gathered outside the meeting to protest against the cuts.Charlene Anderson Coltherd, whose 18-year-old daughter Erin attends a day centre in Fraserburgh, said: "Even though we've been told she'll keep her place, we're quite apprehensive about what that place will look like because we don't think that is going to be the same as it is now. "She really thrives there.""It's been really stressful. We can't sleep at night. What kind of service is going to be left for them?"
Saddiq Ahmed's son uses day services in the Crimond area."Alexander is 36 years old, he's autistic," he explained.Mr Ahmed claimed families were being treated with "utter contempt", and said services were being "stripped" from vulnerable people.He added: "I took early retirement eight years ago when my wife was ill with cancer, she passed away, I'm his only carer now."If he was to lose his place, and his transport of course, I don't know what I would do."
Inez Kirk, Aberdeenshire branch secretary of the public services union Unison, said staff cared "deeply" about communities and the services they used.She said: "Staff are absolutely heartbroken, angry, fed up."Communities are losing a valuable resource, and people are losing their jobs and careers, and seeing the work they have dedicated their lives to being undervalued."I know budgets are bad, but I would like people to work with the staff and find ways to go forward, save money, do things better."
Families were given assurances adults with learning disabilities would not have their services removed until alternative provision could be found.After the meeting, Aberdeenshire IJB chairman John Tomlinson said the gap between how much services cost and the money available to deliver them needed to be closed "urgently".He said: "We have heard several speakers describe the fears they have about how the decisions we have made today may impact on them and their loved ones. "None of us take this responsibility lightly, there has been some sober and reflective discussions in the room today and we are assured that officers will proceed with sensitivity and compassion as we make the changes we must."Mr Tomlinson added: "Unfortunately, the fundamental fact is that we must make savings now, if we do not, we risk the financial stability of our funding partners and the knock-on impacts that would have on wider public services across Aberdeenshire."
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