This in from Isle of Wight LINk. Ed
With only a few days left to air public concern over budget cuts, the Isle of Wight LINk is concerned over the lack of response to the Isle of Wight Council’s public consultation on Social Care Budget Cuts and would encourage people to have their say.
Members of the public will have heard the Isle of Wight Council asking people for their views on proposals to make changes to adult social care from 1st April, 2011.
Faced with huge reductions in money available to provide services, difficult choices will be made. Isle of Wight Link encourages members of the public to get involved and have their say by taking part in this consultation.
Isle of Wight LINk Stewardship Group vice-chair, Paddy Noctor said, “These changes will affect thousands of people and are a major change in the delivery of social care. Island residents need to understand the implications of the proposed changes and take this opportunity to let the council know their views.”
- Some of the proposals being considered include a Change to Eligibility Criteria. At the moment the Isle of Wight Council support substantial and critical needs. The proposal is to continue to fully meet critical needs but limit support of substantial needs to those which place the customer at greatest risk of not being able to remain safe and at home.
- To change their charging policy. People will have a financial assessment and will only be expected to pay what they can afford towards their care. The proposal is to apply this to all people regardless of age and health need, which would include people over the age of 80 and everyone who receives a service. The Isle of Wight Council proposes to charge the actual cost of a service which for day centres would be £25.40 per day session, £5 for Meals on wheels and £13.50 per hour for each carer for Homecare. They propose that this will be the same whether you are on a Personal Budget or not. Short-term support for people who have had a crisis (re-ablement) would still be free and there would be no change to services that support carers in their caring role. The Isle of Wight Council propose that there would not be an upper limit to how much people are asked to pay within their means.
- To relocate the Westminster House respite care service to The Gouldings and The Adelaide. The proposal is to use separate space in the lower ground floor of The Gouldings, with its own entrance, so that the services would be in different parts of the same building. At the Adelaide this would mean the use of the flat which shares the entrance but is otherwise independent of the existing service.
Full information about these proposals is available either online or by phoning, emailing or writing to the project manager, Mrs Kim Ball at: Transformation Manager, County Hall, Newport PO30 1UD or Email: [email protected]
We urge members of the public to have their say. Consultations on:
Proposal for the relocation of Westminster House respite care service (15 October 2010 – 14 January 2011)
Proposed changes to the Council’s charging policy for Adult Social Care Services and eligibility thresholds (15 October 2010 – 14 January 2011)
If anyone is interested contacting the Isle of Wight LINk for more information then please call 0300 111 0102 (Local rate number) or email the Isle of Wight LINk at [email protected].
Image: Ramberg Media Images under CC BY 2.0
