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Response to petition

Title:	Cuts to day services in Hertfordshire
Petition Overview:	Hertfordshire County Council Day Services In May 2016, many Hertfordshire residents with a learning disability and their family carers received letters from the Health and Community Services department at County Hall telling them about major changes to their day services from 31 October 2016 onwards. The letters explained that because of reductions in central government funding, the County Council would have to reduce their day services and that this is likely to include: fewer paid staff working in the service fewer activities for people to take part in a reduction in the number of days the service is open fewer day service premises hot lunches no longer cooked on-site We the under-signed believe that these reductions in frontline services will lead to a real reduction in the quality of life of the people who rely on them. We wish to make the point that they need these services and are referred to them because their level of disability and their consequent vulnerability means that they are not able to access universal or mainstream services without appropriately trained support. We also believe that these reductions will result in extra pressure on their family carers with the potential for carer breakdown and extra pressure on the staff working in residential or supported living settings. This is likely to lead to additional problems in others areas of health and social care provision and even greater costs being incurred.We therefore call upon Hertfordshire County Council to withdraw these proposals.
Relevant Area(s):	Not Specified
Opening Date:	04/06/2016
closing Date:	31/10/2016
Signatures:	1879
Petitioner Name:	Family Carers

Further to the recent petition presented at the Full County Council on 19 July 2016, set out below are the actions that are being taken to address the concerns raised. In response to the reduced levels of central support now being afforded to local authorities, all of the County Council’s services have had to look for efficiencies including In-house day services. Between the 16 May 2016 and 19 August 2016 the County Council undertook a consultation process on the proposed changes to In-house day services. A total of 137 written responses were received during the consultation and 660 service users and carers attended 52 meetings to discuss the proposals. The proposals were also considered at the Adult Care and Health Panel on the 7 September 2016. In response to the consultation feedback the original proposals were reviewed. There is a commitment to keep people who use services, families, and staff, informed and further local meetings will take place as necessary to ensure local changes take full account of specific circumstances. Feedback from the consultation highlighted that a range of activities must continue to be provided and greater use will be made of the main bases with a revised staffing ratio of 1:1; 1:3 and 1:7 to reflect the smaller number of bases overall. Although not specifically outlined in the consultation, some respondents wanted to see senior management overheads examined and a review of senior management has been undertaken to reduce management overheads as a response to this. The value of the meals provided at the eight catered services was raised by respondents and officers have delayed the proposal to stop preparing fresh meals and look at ways of promoting the service to increase diner numbers, examining menus, and reducing supply costs. Each catered service will be looked at again to see if it can operate within a reduced budget but it is likely that freshly prepared meals will cease in favour of pre-prepared meals at most centres. The proposal for an annual one-week closure for all centres was felt to have a detrimental effect on some service users and family carers, and was highlighted by many respondents. It is now proposed to allow centres to plan their own annual timetable - with local discretion to implement closures for training etc. These will be discussed in advance with people and their families and alternative arrangements made in liaison with family carers where essential. To assist with this, centres would not close at the same time. As part of the commitment and vision for In-house day services, local services will be encouraged to form new partnerships with local organisations, generate more income from fundraising, sponsorship and room hire – and operate on a more commercial basis as local resource centres. These ideas reflect feedback during the consultation period. A considerable challenge for the future is that a number of the older day centres are in need of modernisation or replacement due to their age and condition; while some need assessing to see if they can meet the needs of people now being referred into the service. This includes the increasing proportion of people with wheelchairs using the services, people with complex needs, and also the increasing number of people with dementia. It has not been possible to avoid making significant changes to the In-house day services in order to achieve the efficiencies required but these will be implemented very carefully taking into account the feedback from service users and family carers.

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