I am a next of kin a sibling who suffers from schizophrenia and is currently living in supported accommodations in the community.
The health trust which was responsible for providing the care staff have decided to withdraw their services and given notice to the Council, who pay for the the service.
I found out the Council, and without any consultation with either the families or my sibling had tendered and awarded the contract to a private firm/charity. This is despite reaching many months before, when we first heard about potential service changes, to be involved and consulted.
We feel most vulnerable people in society are being targeted for service cuts without taking into account their views. We feel they are being seen as easy wins as many don't have required comprehension levels required to understand the impact of the changes and most are disconnected from their own families who may have advocated for them.
We aren't against the changes perse. The Council is keen on stressing that these are good changes and funding levels remain the same. What we fundamentally are opposed to pushing through such changes without any consultation. We wanted to put across our concerns and interrogate the changes proposed, which include removal of dedicated mental health nurse from each shared dwelling and removal of NHS care staff and replacing them with possibly zero-hours contact staff which can lead to high staff turn over, compared to current staff who have been there anything from 15 to 50 years, meaning staff knew patients and families very well.
We fear the underlying reasons are one to do with achieving savings and they thought they could easily achieve it without any hassle against the mentally ill.
I can't tell you how angry we are.
We put through a complaint to the Council. I really doubt the complaint is going to change anything. They might just say sorry and "lesson learnt".
Has anyone else experienced above or something similar?
Thanks
The health trust which was responsible for providing the care staff have decided to withdraw their services and given notice to the Council, who pay for the the service.
I found out the Council, and without any consultation with either the families or my sibling had tendered and awarded the contract to a private firm/charity. This is despite reaching many months before, when we first heard about potential service changes, to be involved and consulted.
We feel most vulnerable people in society are being targeted for service cuts without taking into account their views. We feel they are being seen as easy wins as many don't have required comprehension levels required to understand the impact of the changes and most are disconnected from their own families who may have advocated for them.
We aren't against the changes perse. The Council is keen on stressing that these are good changes and funding levels remain the same. What we fundamentally are opposed to pushing through such changes without any consultation. We wanted to put across our concerns and interrogate the changes proposed, which include removal of dedicated mental health nurse from each shared dwelling and removal of NHS care staff and replacing them with possibly zero-hours contact staff which can lead to high staff turn over, compared to current staff who have been there anything from 15 to 50 years, meaning staff knew patients and families very well.
We fear the underlying reasons are one to do with achieving savings and they thought they could easily achieve it without any hassle against the mentally ill.
I can't tell you how angry we are.
We put through a complaint to the Council. I really doubt the complaint is going to change anything. They might just say sorry and "lesson learnt".
Has anyone else experienced above or something similar?
Thanks