Carers have spoken out about the effect proposed council budget cuts will have on them, as the adult and social care consultation comes to a close.
The consultation, which ran from October 23 until December 7, looked for feedback on cuts suggested in the October budget, including the proposals to decommission the South Thames Crossroads care service, as well as other services including meals on wheels.
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The South Thames Crossroads service provides a support for carers ranging from respite breaks to help preparing meals and end of life care. It currently has 62 clients within Merton.
CEO of the service, Stefan Kuchar, is determined to fight the proposals.
He said: “We can’t accept their cuts at all. We are seriously concerned. Our clients are angry and anxious. They are very scared about these cuts. These are very vulnerable people.
“This isn’t about us, it’s about the clients. Some of them care for loved ones for 50 hours a week.”
George McAdam, 71, of Shaldon Drive, Morden, cares for his 30-year-old daughter Elizabeth along with his wife, and uses the South Thames Crossroads service as well as day centres.
He said: “One of the things about the cuts is that carers of people with learning difficulties are very, very concerned about the quality of service they’re going to get.
“People who use day centres and Crossroads are very worried about that. We worry about it being replaced by a service where the carers may not be as caring or experienced or constant.
“It’s almost a 24 hour a day job looking after someone. And my daughter needs a break from us too – she loves going to the day centre and meeting her friends, or spending time with the Crossroads helpers.
“If services are cut some carers are going to fall by the way side. Some will find they can’t do it anymore. The number of carers who are elderly is quite large. If you cut services, how much longer can they go on?”
According to the proposals, the council plans to replace South Thames Crossroads with a ‘domiciliary care service’ and ‘commissioned holistic carers support service from voluntary sector’. It expects to save £294,000.
Sue and Paul Caldicott, of Hamilton Road, Wimbledon, care for their 34-year-old daughter Anna, who has autism and the three hours a week at Crossroads is the only respite they get.
Jeanette Townnely, of Abbotsbury Road, Morden, cares for her 30-year son Philip, who has downs syndrome and needs constant supervision.
She said: “The cuts to Crossroads will stop me getting any rest, and impact on my ability to work. It’s going to have a huge impact.
“My biggest concern is I will end up in meltdown. Things will become critical and I will have to say that it’s got too much. My biggest worry is that I will have nothing left and it would be awful for him.
“It’s horrible to find yourself so overwhelmed. It’s happened to me once and I’m scared to death it will happen again. We all have our breaking point, and all you can do is try your best.”
Following the results of the consultation and feedback from the Scrutiny Committee, the next version of the proposals will be available in January 2016.
The Cabinet will make its final decision on the proposed cuts on February 15 2016, and these will be discussed in full council on March 2 2016.
Merton’s cabinet member for adult social care and health, Councillor Caroline Cooper Marbiah, said "The Government have slashed the funding for the vital services provided by local councils so we have been forced to make significant cuts.
"We've agreed that adult social care should take less of a share of the cuts compared with areas such as environmental services, but as the council spends the biggest portion of its money on social care there will still need to be cuts in this area.
"However we are determined to focus our resources on those most in need of our help and we will continue to provide services to those who are eligible."
Proposed £5 million cuts to adult social care includes:
- Decommissioning meals on wheels in order to ‘embed support within community, neighbourhood and voluntary support infrastructure’
- Decommissioning ‘Imagine Independence’: a charity which works with adults with mental health issues and helps them with employment support, peer support and social inclusion. The service will be replaced by ‘a cost effective peer led day opportunities for people living with mental illness.’
- Reviewing all support packages, including in mental health, older people, physical disabilities and learning disabilities, and aiming to make an overall saving of almost £2million
- Reducing the number of older people being admitted to residential care placements by looking to families to continue to support them at home for longer
- Staff redundancies: up to 50 council employees may lose their jobs in the proposals, leading to the possibility of ‘a reduced capacity’ to carry out assessments, support and safeguarding and fewer available activities at centres
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