Gardner House to close
Kathy Newbound and Debbie Cook at Gardner House
The Council has started a consultation on the closure of Gardner House Day Centre for the Elderly in Gardner Road in Maidenhead.
These Day Centres provide a lifeline for elderly people both physically, in ensuring they get the occasional freshly-cooked and well-balanced meal, and mentally, in providing a place for social interaction. Their family also feel supported by the help and advice and by having a break every so often.
This closure follows on from the increase in charges of nearly £1000% for users of the Day Centres who have to fund themselves back in 2009. The price for these ‘self-funders’ has risen from £6 to a massive £58 a day.
In the local elections in May 2011, local Lib Dems warned that the Council was looking to close this Day Centre and the Conservatives denied it – now it looks like it was true!
A local resident whose mother attends the day centre has started a petition against the closure. who can sign the e-petition below:
PETITION AGAINST THE PROPOSED CLOSURE OF GARDNER HOUSE DAY CARE CENTRE FOR THE ELDERLY HARROW LANE, MAIDENHEAD
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The icrease in fees for day centres comes at the same time as the NHS are closing Charles Day Hospital and the LA are proposing to charge actual cost for respite care. These changes will drive patients and even carers into early care homes, something the coilition is pledged to avoid.
Philip Seurre
I visit Gardner House with my Pets As Therapy dog, and I have seen for myself the difference the day centre makes to the lives of it’s ‘guests’. For some of these, the day centre is the only social interaction they have in their week. Without this, depression will set in and they will become even more frail & vulnerable. These elderly ‘guests’ have lived through the hardships of WW2, many of them served in protecting our country – is this the way we look after them in their hour of need. From the financial aspect, when many of them were working, there were not the facilities of pensions, and any money they do have has been carefully saved. I am so angry at this increase & will support any move to revoke it.
More financial strain for the elderley; The Local Authority is withdrawing grants to Crossroads for maintaining a weekend service. The service must be paid from Personal Budgets. In many cases Personal Budgets and self-directed support shifts the financial burden from the Local Authority to the elderley user. Soon to follow will be withdrawal of the subsidy for respite care currently under consultation, a euphemism for advance notice.
I cannot believe that out Local Authority can be so blinkered. Raising fees to the level that they have will cause so much hardship for the elderly, which those that attend these centers find hard enough to find at the best of times. All they are going to do by cutting a life line of interaction with others for these elderly people is cause more stress on social services and our hospitals as losing the regular contact with others outside the family is putting them onto a road of depression and onset of dementia.
Why is it that those with the power cannot look at the wider picture and remember they one day will be elderly and lets see how their lives are and how they are treated.
Alot of elderly people rely on these services and the increase I think is rediculous. However there are also older people who can afford to pay !!. But is it fair, most of these people have paid their taxes and are entitled to help if needed. It can also put some of the elderly at risk as some rely on this service particularly people on there own.
On reflection the council should think again !!
The key to a healthy, happy life is activity and communication with friends. The day centres provide this very important function for the elderly. To raise fees to an unaffordable level will be catastrophic for those who rely on the centres for enhancing their life quality. Let us trust that RBWM will have a rethink about the charges.