Respite care: Fife parents call for lifeline service to re-open
Families which use St Clair Centre in Kirkcaldy have still not been able to return despite Scottish Government guidelines stating that day services for adults could resume from August 3.
The centre provides a community support service to adults between the ages of 16 and 65 with learning disability, physical disability, sensory impairments, autistic spectrum disorders and other related issues. It has been closed since late March.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMarlene Hurles, chairman of Friends of St Clair Centre, whose daughter Karen (32) has learning difficulties, fears for its future.
"I have had very little information from Fife Council,” said Marlene. “We need to find out what is happening.
"Karen used to go to the centre four times a week. Now she is with me 24 hours a day – it’s not healthy for her. She needs to have a social life. At the centre she spends her time with her friends and is missing them terribly.”
Marlene said the Council had billed the centre as a community based service - not a building based service - meaning it does not have adequate transport to safely take users to and from activities because of social-distancing rules.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdShe said: "I feel that this is an excuse, and that it is trying to discourage us from using the centre, to force us out and to eventually close it.”
Moira Brown’s son Gordon (35), who suffers from Williams Syndrome,also attends the centre.
She said: “We have been more or less ignored by Fife Council.
"Gordon was last at the day service the Friday before lockdown in March. In that time we have tried to entertain him as much as possible, but it has been hard. He is missing regular contact with his friends.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMoira said she was shocked to find that the council was offering respite to private clients but not social work sanctioned clients.
"Having had no respite since March, I discovered my usual respite had been told it could accept private clients as all necessary measures have been put in place to allow it to open – just no social work clients,” she said.
"I paid for the four days already agreed within my allocated budget from January, with my own money, to enable my husband and myself to get away for a break.
"I feel that this will create a two tier system where those who can pay - either with their own money or through self directed support- can still access respite while others can’t. It’s very wrong.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBrian Peachey and his wife Linda, from Kettlehill, look after their son Matthew (35), who has epilepsy and profound physical and learning difficulties.
Matthew is in a wheelchair and needs a great deal of round-the-clock support and care, which can often require lifting and carrying.
To them, the centre is a lifeline.
Brian said: "We're luckier than most, we're fairly fit, and we live rurally so we've been able to get him out.
"But the problem is he's socially isolated. His verbal communication is not great, but he makes it clear that he's frustrated being stuck at home with mum and dad.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“He has behavioural problems, and this is just exacerbating them. It's upsetting to see, for the first three months of lockdown we were on our own. We were exhausted.
David Heaney, divisional general manager, Health and Social Care Partnership said: “We understand this has been an extremely challenging time for many families and carers of adults who use our day and respite services, which were suspended at the start of the pandemic.
"Following Scottish Government guidance, we have been working with the local Public Health team and have developed a risk assessment assurance toolkit for commissioned and internal day and respite settings, which ensures that we continue to responsibly manage the safe return of individuals to services.
"Services may look different and we are actively working with our in-house services, which includes the St Clair Centre and external providers to conclude the risk assessments, which need to be approved by the Partnership and Public Health before these services can be re-mobilised.”