As we are approaching half-way through the term of the Alliance Group’s time in office at County Hall, News OnTheWight approached each of the Cabinet members offering an opportunity to highlight the work of their portfolio and their hopes for the coming year.
We began with Isle of Wight council leader, Lora Peacey-Wilcox, followed by Cllr Jonathan Bacon, Cllr Julie Jones-Evans, Cllr Debbie Andre and Cllr Karen Lucioni.
Up next is Cllr Karl Love, whose portfolio covers Adult Social Care and Public Health. In his own words. Ed
Looking forward to a year of hope and kindness in challenging times.
2022 is one I’m personally happy to leave behind for all kinds of reasons and 2023 is going to be a year which significantly challenges the finances of us all, where we will need to dig deep and find innovative ways of budgeting and caring for one another.
Budgets are stretched beyond capacity
Our council budgets are stretched beyond capacity and some very taxing decisions will have to be taken if we are to continue to be viable as an independent Island council.
To not be viable will place the finances of our council in the hands of others who will have little knowledge of our Island.
Experts at stretching the funding
Adult Social Care (ASC) teams have become experts at stretching our Island pounds and every year that has become even more complex.
I’m as deeply indebted to our teams on the frontline, as I am to those in the back office and councillor support teams.
Must do more again with less money
This year we must do more again with less money, as sadly our government has provided less than expected funding needed to maintain the level of services we currently provide.
We are constantly modernising the ways we do things in ASC to deliver the required statutory services. We will see more and more technology being used both in our daily lives, but to support people to remain at home living independently.
Helping people remain at home
The very best place for people to remain in their twilight years in in their own homes surrounded by their treasured possessions.
In order to do this, I must recruit more staff and this remains our biggest challenge moving forward along with finding the funding to resource it. To do this we will need even greater support from those with extended families to support the work of Adult Social Care.
We will all have to pay more and care more with the resources we currently have available.
WightCare is an important element of future health care, but to survive it must become financially sustainable.
Finding the workforce
In many cases ASC services support those who have a little in the way of immediate family and loved ones and this need is growing.
We all want to live the most fulfilling lives possible and to live independently at home I must find a workforce to care for people.
I would want to improve pay and conditions as we move forward, but my frustration is simply that it’s beyond my budgets at this time to do so and this is why I constantly pressure the government to prioritise the very essence of human rights and health care equality.
Always innovating
We all want to age well and be as independent as possible. My teams never give up trying to innovate and in 2022 we saw that innovation recognised though national awards presented for creativity – we are constantly trying to provide improve accessibility across all services.
This is done where we can afford to in all our Island teams and portfolio council teams, including highways, looking to provide dropped curbs, improving street lighting and removing obstacles for those with visual impairment.
Lack of housing stock
Unfortunately we are often limited in some areas for instance, by the housing stock we have available and sadly by the quality of it in some cases.
We are constantly talking about improving our housing and it’s a painfully slow process building new homes.
As soon as we mention and talk about building houses in communities we run into many local complexities. The truth is everybody recognises that we need better housing, but nobody wants large houses complexes in their back garden.
Caught between a rock and a hard place
House building is motivated by profit and there is very little profit in building affordable housing of the type we need on our Island and especially trying to motivate people to build adapted housing.
Our council is caught between government policies and slow clunky rules of all kinds. Whist we can borrow to build we must always justify a financial outlay and deliver expected returns by demand of the rules.
New Extra Care Unit
I’d love to see more adapted housing and this is why I support the building of a new Extra Care Unit on Maresfield Road, East Cowes.
I hope to see some planning applications this year in other locations too and we must also build the right kind of accommodation to attract a workforce, from the mainland, that we need.
The reality is, we are running out of workforce to care and develop as an Island this is why we must and need to build. Delivering and developing a workforce is critical and we cannot do it in our own anymore.
Will be making some difficult choices
So there are many challenges for 2023 and the first is setting a council budget.
I’m afraid to say we will have to make some difficult choices and I will always, in using my elected vote, put our health priority, the right to life, first, even if that means having heated debates with others.
So it’s going to be a creative critical year and we must all work together or face handing our own destiny over to the care of others on the mainland which I will not want to do.
This is the battle of 2023.
I wish you all the very best of health in 2023. I thank all my teams in ASC for their dedication and work.
A strength of world unity
I hope for quick end to the war in Ukraine and thank all the families who invited theses displaced form their homes into your homes. 2022 showed a strength of world unity for the care of others in fare away nations and at the centre of this is MAD-Aid.
Thank you to all who made gift aid and continue todo so all across our Island people.
Image: © With kind permission of Allan Marsh
