As a local councillor, I often get called upon to support residents with a wide variety of problems and concerns. This can be anything from planning issues, to education, health or child protection; most people would be surprised by the variety of things I get involved in, often well outside my remit as a councillor, and frequently in trouble because of it!
Recently, I have been spending time meeting with officials who are responsible for the care and support of both vulnerable and elderly residents who have a variety of social care issues. Whilst I can appreciate that in recent years funding cuts have had an adverse impact on the provision of services, it can be hard for those in need to understand that the support they have previously received is now no longer on offer. Their situation has not changed, but someone has moved the goalposts.
In one case the number of hours a person has been receiving in support has been reduced from 10 to 4 per week, although their circumstances remain much the same. In another case a resident who move into sheltered housing five years ago now finds that the housing provider has downgraded the facility to ‘supported’ housing, meaning[LV1] that there is no longer an on-site manager. The same person has had several falls in recent months, requiring an ambulance to be called out, and although they would now like to move into a care home sufficient funding is unavailable, in part due to the preferred residence being ‘out of county’ although just 10 miles up the road. The result of this is that, not being fully mobile, apart from 1½ hours care a day, they are left at home alone and totally isolated. In addition to this, the shower has not been working for over a year. On making enquiries, I was shocked to be told that as long as a person could stand or sit at a sink it was not a requirement for them to have a working shower. I am pleased to say that as a result of my intervention a new shower was installed that afternoon.
What is often at the heart of the decisions made on behalf of these vulnerable people, both young and old, is the need for an assessment to be carried out. This usually involves a social worker, who may not be that familiar with the person concerned, as sadly, they change with monotonous regularity, asking set questions from a standard form. The problem with this is that the questions do not always take into account that person’s individual circumstances. In one case a local resident with MS was asked if they could wash and dress themselves unaided, to which the response was ‘Yes’. What was not explored was the fact that it took over an hour for them to do so due to their medical condition.
Much is also made of a person’s mental capacity to be able to make decisions for themselves. This is all very well, but happens when the decisions they make may bring themselves or others into danger?
The fact is that humans are complex beings and cannot so easily fit into the boxes bureaucracy requires of them, in order to satisfy the latest criteria, which it seems to me is sometimes arbitrary at best.
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