Care home uncertainty is so cruel
The sun shone on Easter Sunday so hopefully we can get to enjoy some decent weather as the nights start to get lighter.
Talking of spring, I attended one of the Renfrewshire Schools’ Spring Concert Series events held in the splendid-looking refurbished Paisley Town Hall.
The performances from the young people were terrific and I’m sure the audience thoroughly enjoyed the evening. We really have some talented young people here in Renfrewshire.
Also that week, I was at the Provost Awards and, once again, the winners of the awards were truly inspirational and thoroughly deserved the recognition they got on the night.
We are lucky here in Renfrewshire that we have so many people who do so much for their communities.
One of the groups I work with in the ward I represent is the Elderslie Community Council.
Along with the three other ward councillors, I have been working the William Wallace Society to improve the Wallace Monument in the village.
The council have been good enough to put in money that will vastly improve the area surrounding the monument.
Also, some money has become available to supply lighting on the monument itself.
So, we are looking at how the monument itself can be improved for the benefit of everyone and I believe its important that Elderslie’s link to William Wallace is maintained, looked after and promoted better.
Of course, it’s not all good news at the moment, particularly with the closure of Montrose care home, agreed at the last meeting of the integrated joint board.
I am on that particular board and I made the decision to vote against the closure.
I did so because I believe it is a care home that provides goodquality care to our older residents. The staff are excellent and, given we have an ageing population, I’m sure that the need for such facilities will grow. In fact, I believe there is scope to further improve the service and increase demand but that opportunity is now gone and I think it’s a decision that will be regretted in years to come.
At the same meeting, a vote took place on whether or not to close either the Milldale or Mirin centres.
The result of the vote was foureach with all four of the councillors on the board voting for both centres to be retained.
The matter will now be discussed at a later date and it’s a real shame that the issue is still not resolved and the uncertainty is, I believe, cruel to both the people and their carers who rely on these centres.
Onto national politics, one of the reasons services are closing here in Renfrewshire is the reduced funding coming our way from the Scottish Government which is going a long way to reduce services provided by our public bodies.
Last year, there were 55,000 less planned operations than in the same year period pre-pandemic.
There are 825,000 patients stuck on waiting lists for tests and treatment.
Our NHS is crumbling before our eyes and with cuts to council services and every other sector of our public services now weaker under the SNP, our country badly needs a change of government.
And, after a year in charge, I’m afraid Humza Yousaf’s is a record of shame and failure.
I’m afraid to finish on a really sad note.
A good friend of Thorn Athletic Football Club in Johnstone passed away on Easter Sunday.
Brian Rush was a gentleman who went out of his way to help anyone.
He was a huge St Mirren fan and he sat in the West Stand at home games.
His family have asked for a minute’s applause on the 20th minute in tomorrow’s big Premiership game against Hearts at the SMiSA.
I hope this happens.
Brian will be missed by all those who were lucky enough to know him.