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Name	Your Story
rosieh	# Posted: 4 Apr 2008 06:55 Reply -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rotherham council in the last few months have withdrawn funding from Age Concern meaning that day centres are going to have to close - there is one private one opening but that's over £20 a day! Isolated pensioners are to be left abandoned. Also the "bath nurse" service is being withdrawn. This was a lifesaver with my mum who when I said I'd help her bath - a much needed procedure! - said "I bathed you not the other way round". I contacted the service and because the nurse wore a uniform and was kindly Mum went into the bathroom meekly every week, she was 98 when she died and we had the service for 4 years. I don't know what goes on in their heads, what do they think people can do instead? At least at the moment they can still get meals on wheels but that'll be the next thing, 14 frozen meals delivered to people who can hardly get up out of a chair let alone defrost one safely! rosieh
Paul	# Posted: 4 Apr 2008 10:42 Reply Looks as if Rotherham Council are merely following the trend ....... first few Councils that introduced cutbacks \ charges \ withdrawal of services found out quite quickly that resistance from the local communities was little more than token gestures. As a consequence , almost all Councils have now followed the lead of the first Councils , very few local communities remain unaffected. At all levels , the supporting charities have stood back , merely watching the action as the carers \ the elderly \ the disable fell like ninepins to these measures. Now , we are all faced with the consequences. Worst to come ? Highly probable as the liquidity crisis in the financial markets starts to bite in other sectors , the service industry and what's left of our manufacturing base. Banks will be reluctant to extend existing facilities , and be even more cautious with potential new borrowings. Summary ...... resistance now is almost futile , the number of casualties can already be measured by the hundred thousand ( if not one or two million ). Don't let anyone believe that a change in government will prove to be a lifeline.
frances	# Posted: 5 Apr 2008 02:08 Reply Resistance is never futile. It is so easy for them to pick off services locally one by one. The government is squeezing the budgets from the centre and then letting the shortage of money work its way down to local level where local services get picked off one by one and no one sees the fingerprints of central government on it. If you want to organise to fight local cuts and share experience of how to fight cuts at a local level join the carerwatch campaign group and read this thread. Carerwatch Section - Cuts,Cuts,Cuts Thread - Building a network to fight cuts and closures If you want to fight the whole central government climate of not supporting care and carers then join the carerwatch campaign group and get ready to respond to the the upcoming government review.
Paul	# Posted: 5 Apr 2008 04:48 Reply Fait accompli for all but a few that haven't experienced the cuts \ withdrawals \ implementation of charges. Fight ? How ? Only those few in Lambeth actually took action beyond the usual barrage of paper \ e-mails , and only to delay the inevitable. Campaign by all means ...... the only real change \ reversal can now come from either the government doing an 180% turn , or implementation nationwide of the recent judgment in the Harrow case ( documentated on the Voice's site ). Only the second option will prove to be of any use ..... until the government step in to change the law to the detriment of all those already affected.
frances	# Posted: 5 Apr 2008 07:38 Reply If you read the threads in the campaign group you will see that we fought to save the mental health hostels here and we lost and they were closed. But the council was shocked by the publicity that showed what they were doing. It will make them think a bit harder next time. Fighting campaigns isn't wasted just because you don't win that battle. Lambeth were an inspiration to us all. And there will be a next time. The fight is on two fronts. Helping one another locally where we are all so isolated and fighting to stop the squeeeze on finance coming down at the national level. Carerwatch are here to fight and keep fighting.

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