The leader was wrong

Dear Editor, Our council leader John Ross seems to have forgotten his manners once again and is indulging in the politics of the playground by accusing political opponents of lying.

This is hardly the standard of conduct we should expect from someone in his position.

The matter in question is the plan to open “community care hubs” in local care homes.

Halfway houses where people will be sent to after being discharged from hospital and before going home or taken to these places instead of going into hospital.

A plan, in my opinion and experience of NHS and care services, fraught with disasters just waiting to happen and a cynical move by the SNP minority council to bolster their SNP government who have failed to address the problems of delayed discharged from NHS hospitals, particularly of older people.

If someone is ready to go home , that is where they should be and the necessary home care should be in place for them before they leave.

The 50 new trainee careworker posts he boasts about will barely scratch the surface of what is needed. If someone requires full-time residential care instead of going home then that too should be in place. A lack of home careworkers and the outsourcing of home care to private companies was also an issue when SLC was run by Labour and my family’s experience of this has already been in the public domain.

This plan of halfway houses runs the risk of leading to further delay , increased re-admission to hospital and confusion and deterioration, particularly among older people with mental health needs.

They will not be quiet, convalescence homes but busy places with people in all sorts of conditions coming and going all the time.

It will, if allowed to do so, rapidly become the norm for someone to be sent there just to get them out of hospital quickly.

For example, if someone in their 60s, normally fit and well, requires a week or two of help at home that should be available to them immediately and they should not be parked in an unfamiliar care home awaiting it. How could this possibly be the best outcome?

I am pretty sure these places will be staffed by careworkers who will have little or no knowledge of the person’s medical condition.

Yet, John Ross will not engage in meaningful debate on this. Instead he concentrates on accusing his critics of lying. It is true, however , that more publicly funded care homes need to be provided instead of our older residents being used to line the pockets of private companies.

In my experience, even public funding does not always guarantee the best standards and there is a need for continued vigilance and public accountability of what goes on in these places.

Readers may remember two stories in the Reformer in recent months. One about an NHS section at Rodgerpark home being closed down –I suspect in preparation for its re-opening as a halfway house – and the problems experienced by current residents and their families who were not consulted.

There was also the story of two Rutherglen ladies who were unable to access respite care at Walker House in Rutherglen.

I now understand that an area of this council run home may already have been put aside in preparation for its use as a halfway house or “community care hub” in advance of any decision being made about such provision in the area.

Cambuslang Labour councillor Margaret Walker and Rutherglen Labour councillor Margaret Cowie have expressed their concerns both at council meetings and, on several occasions, through the pages of the Reformer.

This issue crosses all party boundaries and politicians should be working together on it for the good of our people instead of scoring points by being confrontational.

I wrote to our council leader and to both our MSPs and several local councillors Labour and SNP.

Only Labour people replied. Councillor Ross passed me on to the head of adult and older peoples services at SLC and NHS Lanarkshire Partnership who told me: “SLC is committed to providing the best possible care and support for older people.”

She added “.... older people will be able to choose what matters most about their care and support.”

Fine words but the question is how will this be put into practice?

I also contacted the Scottish Government and was told, “Wherever possible, we want people to return straight home with appropriate support.

“Once an individual is ready for discharge we want to ensure they are moved into the most appropriate setting as soon as possible.”

How can dumping someone in a halfway house possibly fulfil those aims? What about when they are full up? Would local people be sent to care homes in far flung parts of Lanarkshire?

Instead of mud slinging, Councillor Ross should be explaining to the public in detail, exactly what is proposed before any decision is made that will affect the people of Rutherglen and Cambuslang and I hope that he will keep his promise , made in last week’s Reformer, to do so. Dorothy Connor, Rutherglen