Devastated parents fear their disabled children “would be deprived of their whole world” if day care services across Aberdeenshire are axed or reduced.
Coralie Aitken worried her 25-year-old daughter Sophie would lose her independence and be left battling anxiety and depression if her spot in their local centre is chopped.
The Balmedie mum has been looking after her disabled child at home as an unpaid carer for years, juggling looking after Sophie while also keeping a day job.
One of the mains pillars of support for them has been the Ellon Resource Centre, where Sophie gets to feel part of the community and improve her life skills.
However, the centre is now under threat as Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership looks to make a string of cuts to services to save millions.
Care homes, Arch responders, community hospitals and ADHD and Autism assessment services are also at risk.
The review of day care services could result in reducing the number of spaces available, with those with a “profound and multiple learning disability” being prioritised.
This means those who are considered “not so disabled”, as Coralie puts it, might lose out on what is currently on offer at venues run by the partnership.
And Coralie fears this would have a detrimental impact on her daughter.
Tearful mum scared daughter’s life would ‘disappear’ if help axed
In an emotional speech to board members today, she explained that Sophie has had severe learning difficulties since birth and needs help with everyday tasks.
She told board members that her daughter can only speak 20 words.
But she has been thriving thanks to the help and support she gets at day care centre they have been attending several days a week in Ellon.
Coralie praised the staff for helping Sophie, and feared losing the time she spends there would do more harm than good.
She said: “Sophie would regress so far back if we didn’t have the specialist input from these amazing people who help care for our loved ones.
“Losing the day service would take away her independence… Her whole life would disappear – her social life, everything would go.
“Our loved ones will probably go into some form of crisis because they don’t have that understanding of why these things are being taken away from them.”
Fear day centre users would be left ‘anxious and depressed’
Coralie also feared removing day care support would cause many like Sophie to feel anxious and depressed.
Speaking to The Press and Journal after the meeting, she added that board members “don’t realise the full impact of their proposals”.
To make matters worse, the mum revealed she was told her daughter’s place at Ellon Resource Centre was at risk via a “unexpected” phone call in February.
Coralie claimed there had been “no proper consultation” with families, with some already being told they won’t have a service in the future.
“I can’t stress enough how much pressure this is going to put on everyone if these services are only allowed to be accessed by the most severely disabled,” she said.
“The impact of this should have been done a long time before phoning families and telling them they didn’t have a space anymore.”
She pleaded with board members to take her concerns on board, and tearfully added: “This is a life or death situation for a lot of us.”
Dad says axing day centre support would ‘deprive son of whole world’
Father Saddiq Ahmed also addressed board members with a desperate plea at today’s meeting.
He shared his own experience and explained what impact the threatened day centre changes would have on his son, Alexander, who attends services in Crimond.
The retired businessman revealed he felt the proposals had been “pushed forward with no regard to due process”.
And, he believed the changes could create “real dilemmas” for adults with learning disabilities as well as their parents, carers and support staff.
He highlighted the impact the cuts would have on the “mental and physical wellbeing or users, suddenly deprived of their whole world”.
Saddiq also warned of the “very real possibility” that many adults with learning disabilities being deprived of services could be “constrained to an early death”.
He said: “That’s what happens when people regress, that’s what happens when people become insular – they die…and that’s what we are running the risk of here.”
Health and Social Care Partnership: ‘We don’t have any other options’
Councillor David Keating thanked the two parents for their “incredibly powerful and personal testimonies”, and suggested board members found their words “sobering”.
However, he stressed that the changes were needed as there was no cash to keep the services running as they are.
Mr Keating explained: “We can’t raise revenue, we have no borrowing ability and we have no reserves.
“A solution we could look at is simply salami-slice everything, decrease what we do for everybody across the piece and that could be an answer.
“But I don’t think that would be a better answer. We should be trying to do something transformational.”
Cuts proposal to go forward – but Autism and ADHD decision on hold
Eventually, the partnership agreed to move forward with the proposals as they are, with the final verdict expected to come in May.
This was, however, excluding the issue with plans to keep the adult autism and ADHD assessment pathway going on a reduced service for the next six months.
Councillor Ross Cassie believed the paper didn’t provide enough detail for members to decide the fate of the service at this stage.
He said: “We know that there are problems with diagnosis out there and we know that needs to be addressed.
“We shouldn’t be pitting one service against another, everybody deserves to have a service.”
The Aberdeenshire integration joint board will meet again at the end of May.
Read more:
- Campaigners vow to take legal action as Aberdeenshire health bosses push ahead with ‘brutal’ savings plan
- Leaked email reveals fate of Aberdeenshire healthcare system to be decided in May
- IN FULL: All the Aberdeenshire health charges that could rocket ‘brutal’ savings plan poised to ’empty vulnerable people’s pockets’
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