Julie Mabberley: How will NHS cuts affect loneliness and isolation?

THE planned changes to NHS services propose that more care will be delivered at home or in care homes.

Is this just a way of moving things out of the NHS budget and into the social services budget?

When patients are moved out of major hospitals into recuperation wards (normally community hospitals) specialist carers help them to regain the skills and confidence to look after themselves at home.

The new plans suggest that these patients will be sent to care homes where specialist carers are less likely to be available, or else they will be immediately sent home with home care visits.

The NHS is likely to pay for this care for a short period of time then the cost may well revert to the individual or to the county.

But the county council are reviewing all daytime services and replacing their current annual funding for 47 community daytime support services of £992,000 a year with grants totalling £250,000 a year. That’s a reduction of £742,000 at a time when the percentage of people with special needs (including the elderly) is increasing.

The options now being considered by the county council are:

Option 1: close all Health and Well Being Centres and provide eight bases around the county, in Oxford, Banbury, Didcot, Witney, Bicester, Wantage, Abingdon and Wallingford. The bases would provide support for a wide range of needs from learning disabilities to dementia. There are no details yet of where these bases will be because they haven’t worked out what services they can afford to provide. Also no additional transport will be provided.

Option 2: have four small buildings in four different areas of the county where staff will be based: Oxford, North, South and West. These staff will go out into the community to provide a range of flexible options to meet the local needs.

Oxfordshire Social Services are only going to be concerned with looking after those with the most need, i.e. those that have taken a needs assessment and have been assessed as requiring help. Anyone else who goes to a day centre for companionship may be able to use the service but will have to find their own way there and will then be charged a higher rate.

The council don’t mention the removal of 90 per cent of grants to the clubs and day centres run by volunteers. One of the clubs which will be hit by these cuts is the October Club in Wantage (a day centre for those with Alzheimer’s and Dementia) which may be forced to close when the grant from the county is withdrawn.

Do our elderly and people with special needs deserve to be treated as second class citizens?

The county council say that they 'want to support people to live well in their local community, taking part in a range of locally available opportunities to promote their wellbeing. They aim to reduce loneliness and social isolation by supporting individuals and communities to support each other'.

How does reducing the funding for daytime services by 75 per cent and providing care at home reduce loneliness and social isolation?

If you have a view on the county options or the reduction in funding then please write to the cabinet member of adult social care at the county council or go to wantageandgrove.org/healthcare for more details.