Outrage at closure of daycare centres for severely disabled adults

If a civilised society should be judged by how it can provide for its most vulnerable people then we should be concerned how posterity will look back at Hillingdon Council in 2011.

Labour Group Leader
Cllr Mo Khursheed

Labour's leader on Hillingon Council, Cllr Mo Khursheed, has described plans for replacing three day centres with one larger centre in Queens Walk, South Ruislip as outrageous.


Cllr Khursheed says the planned  one large centre is "out of line with current thought that favours smaller day service provision" and the overall reduction "from the current 140 places to just 70 in one new day centre" disregards the evidence of increased need contained in two papers submitted to the Council's Cabinet on 30th September.

"An immediately obvious issue is that one day centre to cover all 43 square miles of Hillingdon will entail people travelling further than currently. For those of us that live in Hillingdon, we are fully aware that it is criss-crossed by motorways and major roads. It only takes one problem and grid-lock usually follows. Already carers and users complain about the fairly long periods of time users spend on transport getting to provision. The new proposals will compound these problems. Possibly users may spend more time travelling than they actually do at the new mega day centre. I am coming to the conclusion that the retention of at least one of the south Day Centres is vital because of this."

In the Disabilities Commissioning Plan 2011-2015 the Council said the needs of all service users at the affected day centres - Phoenix in South Ruislip, Woodside in Hayes and Parkview in Hillingdon - would be reviewed

One Harefield resident "whose 29-year-old son needs 24-hour care for his rare metabolic disease and epilepsy" has expressed anger the closure of Phoenix Cenre, South Ruislip, as it will cause "major upheaval in her life and severe distress to her disabled son".

"Chris goes to Phoenix Day Centre five days a week during school term time, and has three nights a month respite, which helps us have some independence.

"As I work at a school I care for him full-time during the holidays, as well as in the mornings and evenings after work. This is becoming increasingly difficult as I get older and sometimes struggle to get through a day.

"To now hear via our local newspaper that the day centre is to close is devastating."

" Chris found travelling long distances stressful, and she would have to give up her job to care for him full-time if Phoenix closed".

Cllr Khursheed concludes his remarks " I fear these proposals are not about doing the best for our residents, they are more concerned with balancing the books".