Relatives hit back as city’s lifeline day centres for disabled forced to close

So the authority’s plans to close seven of its 10 day centres caused widespread shock and anger when they were announced several weeks ago.

Hull resident Lisa Anderson’s 35-year-old aunt Angela, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has been attending the threatened Bilton Grange Community Centre for seven years.

“That centre is the key part of her routine,” Ms Anderson said. “It is her life. If you change that all of a sudden, it is so traumatic for her, and for the rest of us. These cuts just seem so indiscriminate – I don’t think they’ve thought it through at all.

“A society really should be taking care of its vulnerable people, and that just doesn’t seem to be happening. Angela cannot speak – she is literally voiceless in all this. I think they are seen as an easy target.”

Ms Anderson said the rearranged day service, centred around just three or four sites, will involve a staff-to-patient ratio of five-to-one. Currently many users have one-to-one care, she said.

“It will just be a glorified baby-sitting service,” she added.

Council leader Carl Minns, however, insisted the service changes would have been necessary whether the council was making cut-backs or not, arguing the situation is a knock-on effect of the previous Government’s decision to give people full control of their own social care budgets, meaning people have more choice over the type of care they receive.

“Now, if people decide they want the money instead of a place at the day centre, then we lose a bit more funding,” Coun Minns said. “So as people withdraw, the council just doesn’t have the money to keep every facility open.

“The day centres we are closing are services which we put on in other buildings such as community centres, where we hire the rooms out. We’re looking to save the money on room hire – not actually close buildings.”