Day centre families pin hopes on crunch meeting
The fate of lifeline services for people with learning disabilities and autism in Renfrewshire could be determined at a crunch summit today.
A special meeting of the integration joint board (IJB) – responsible for oversight of the health and social care partnership (HSCP) – has been called for this afternoon.
Controversial cost-cutting proposals to close Flexicare and combine Mirin and Milldale day centres will be revisited after decision-makers could not agree on how to proceed at the IJB in March.
Helen McAleer, 72, whose 50-year-old daughter Amanda attends Milldale at the On-X Linwood, is one of dozens of campaigners who have fought the suggested amalgamation for months.
She feels there is an “arrogance” to pushing on with a decision on the potential merger, which has been the subject of a petition for judicial review.
Helen told the Paisley Daily Express: “The ideal scenario for me would be voting it down – for one or more of the non-executive directors to side with the councillors and realise this is not a proper decision to make.”
The day centre proposals, which were initially unveiled in November, said combining Mirin and Milldale would support “evolution of services towards a community delivery outreach model whilst maintaining a building-based provision strand”.
A revised service would focus on eligibility only for people who have familybased support, with a different approach taken for people with supported living care packages.
Helen added: “The community is not the right place for a lot of people. It is for some but our people who are at day centres just now could not hack it out in the community.
“The reason that they’ve suggested Mirin [at the Lagoon in Paisley] staying open is about transportation links.
“There’s not one person going to day centres just now who could travel independently. That is rubbish.
“As a parent, my dearest wish is that the non-executives side with the four councillors and vote this down.”
Councillor Iain McMillan, member of the IJB, voted against shutting down Flexicare and merging Mirin and Milldale at the meeting in March – both votes resulted in 4-4 deadlocks.
Some members were of the view a decision could only be made on the day centres once they had considered the full analysis of the proposal, including the options appraisal and equality impact assessment.
Speaking this week, Councillor McMillan, a Labour representative for Johnstone South and Elderslie, said: “With Flexicare, we certainly had enough information.
“That might be a difficult one because somebody will need to completely change their mind on that.
“The other issue is Mirin and Milldale. Whether the new information is enough for anybody to come on board with the four councillors, we’ll need to wait and see.
“All it takes is for one of the NHS members to come on board and, who knows, it might not be a change of mind as such, it might just be they wanted more information that wasn’t available at that particular time.
“All it takes is one person and the Mirin and Milldale day centres are saved, so we’ll need to wait and see how it pans out.
“But it’s been hard going for the families. They have had to wait a long time and there’s been a lot of uncertainty surrounding this.”
Closing Flexicare would save £170,000 and combining Mirin and Milldale £458,000.
The IJB will meet at 1pm at Renfrewshire House in Paisley on Monday.
For our people who are at day centres, they could not hack it out in the community