Top marks to Mike Brooke of the East London Advertiser for breaking the news yesterday that hundreds of residents in need are to be abandoned by Tower Hamlets Council as their day-care centres are closed down.
The centres are Riverside Day Service at Jack Dash House on the Isle of Dogs, the Day Opportunities Service for brain injury recovery in Stepney Way and the Bethnal Green pensioners’ centre at Pritchard’s Row.
A complete list of all LBTH day-centres can be found here.
According to the Advertiser it was only when residents who use the day centres were sent letters to their homes that they found out their services will be closing.
This has caused severe distress to many people whose lives are dependent on the day-centres.
“Once more the Tower Hamlets Labour administration is using the Covid-19 pandemic as a convenient excuse to close essential services, this time three day-care centres that hundreds of isolated and disabled people rely on,” said Cllr. Rabina Khan (Liberal Democrat, Shadwell). “One of my residents has a husband who needs to be in a day-centre and she is at her wits end as to what she will do now.”
“To make matter worse this plan seems to have been developed in secrecy and was only revealed when letters were sent to people’s homes. I intend to find out exactly what is going on and fully oppose this.”
The day-care closures are being discussed at Tower Hamlets council’s cabinet meeting on October 28 and is euphemistically called ‘Revised approach to day support in adult social care’.
Some revision. Here’s a quote from one of the Cabinet documents.
“For some people (those who use existing centres) these proposals will mean the loss of valued services however for other people who need support under the Care Act, these proposals will lead to more choice and flexibility and less reliance on centre-based provision.”
How easily the council glosses over the cruel reality of the impact on these cuts on people’s lives.
It is a safe bet that the government will be blamed for the imposition of these cuts in tandem with the pandemic, no mention being made of the ineptitude of the current administration or the corruption that still infests the town hall.
Odd that, innit?
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