At the beginning of last week, VB was copied in on a letter sent to the Isle of Wight council by thirty-five carers.
It was copied to VB, the CP and Andrew Turner but we were asked to hold back from publishing it until the end of the week.
Other things got in the way on Friday, hence the delay, but VB readers can now see the contents of the unedited letter below.
We the undersigned wish to raise the following points re Westminster House.
In spite of promises made no consultation has taken place between council, carers, care workers and service users all present together, we urge this to be done and although a questionnaire has been placed on the council website we consider this to be no consultation at all as most service users unable to write, read or understand the questions.
We would also like to address the following points.
In the questionnaire on the web site it is stated that the cost of staying one week at “The Gouldings” is eight hundred pounds a week against the cost of WH of one thousand pounds a week.
We are interested to know how Councilor Mazillius has reached these figures as we have been informed under the new personal budget the cost of care will be sixty four pounds a night, this amounts to four hundred and forty eight pounds a week, could the councilor state how he arrived at this wildly differing sum?
Secondly we are curious as to the further discrepancies in the occupancy at Westminster House.
The councilor has stated it is merely fifty percent occupied.
Figures for the last year shows requests for rooms were actually 81% plus the short notice emergency room, the overall occupancy was at 72%. These figures do not include the many requests the hostel are forced to turn down.No questions are being asked as to why the hostel is not always full and no consideration taken in respect of the complex needs of many of the service users.
Sadly the people making these decisions have little or no experience at working with people with learning difficulties.
The Care Quality commission has confirmed they found Westminster House a good service and fit for purpose, we therefore conclude the councils main objection is the shortage of a lift.
Cllr Mazillius was informed that the cost of the said lift was between forty five and fifty thousand pounds, not the one hundred and thirty thousand pounds he quoted in council. One presumes either his arithmetic or his hearing to be faulty.
As the council has set aside fifty thousand pounds to renovate the Gouldings we suggest this money be used to install a lift, if they are unwilling to do this we can find the funds.
The staff at Westminster House have stated they are not on board with the proposed change which again was made clear at the full council meeting when Councilor Mazillius stated they were all in agreement, clearly the staff are not happy at the proposed change, they said so loud and clear at a public meeting!
Far from the “Unanimous decision” Councilor Mazillius stated was made by the “Whole Life” committee re the proposed change this does not appear to be correct.
There were in fact objections raised and no vote was taken, it is difficult to see how a unanimous decision was made under those circumstances.
We refute the decision for the Gouldings as a suitable venue to replace Westminster House for all the reasons previously stated, we further add that the kitchen is not suitable for wheel chair users thus unfit for purpose, the living area not large enough to accommodate all service users if full.
The venue is not suitable as mixing the elderly with users with severe learning difficulties places an unfair burden on the elderly who may well be there on a convalescent basis, there is little or no opportunity for social activities as Freshwater has no cinema, clubs etc and very few public houses, the carers have real concerns regarding transport to West Wight and the staff have similar concerns due to bus cuts.
Furthermore the most valid argument for keeping Westminster House is it`s closeness to the hospital in Newport, Is the council aware that at least two of the service users are peg fed and in an emergency would require immediate hospital treatment, for example if the tube became dislodged, it is a ten minute drive to the hospital from Westminster House and considerably longer from Freshwater! If the care user is not hospitalized withing twenty minutes of the emergency, this could be disastrous and the council would be liable.
The council have also spoken highly of the garden facilities at the Gouldings, the garden at Westminster house is considerably larger and already equipped for BQs, whereas money will need to be found to bring the Gouldings up to the same standard.
We, the carers, feel we are still not being consulted in the manner proposed and would urge the council to listen to us and address all the above problems and throw some light on the discrepancies stated above.
We ask for a full consultation, in person with all users and those affected.
Until we informed the health center at Freshwater they did not appear to have any knowledge of the proposed changes to the Gouldings which must affect their workload.
Whilst understanding the needs for cuts that affect the whole country and having already lost our day center in Newport we would urge the council to look once more at the proposed move from a central site, a hostel gifted by Men-cap to the council for the very purpose of providing its current use, to a clearly unsuitable site which was built around the same time and was intended for the use of an elderly population which is increasing, this site is not suitable and the proposal therefore is that this is withdrawn.
We are prepared to take this further if a date is not set for a full consultation and would stress again this should not be a questionnaire but should be a face to face meeting to which care staff, carers and service users are invited and this is a matter of some urgency.
