Elizabeth Parker, the 94 year old West Sussex pensioner crippled with arthritis

After a bitter 5-month battle by Don’t  Cut Us out campaigners, MPs and Lib Dem Councillors, Elizabeth Parker, the 94 year old West Sussex pensioner crippled with arthritis, has had her County Council care support reinstated

 Mrs Parker’s case was first highlighted by the Don’t Cut Us Out Campaign back in April after the Horsham based Adult Services dept. downgraded her needs from ‘moderate’ to ‘low’ and cut the two hours a day of home support she had relied on for two years to help her maintain a semi-independent life. You can pick up the earlier press releases from www.dontcutusout.org.uk/?page_id=5

 The decision took no account of her inability to feed and dress herself, a history of blackouts and the fact that she can walk only a few yards with the aid of a frame. Her case generated widespread media coverage and highlighted the cuts in care support West Sussex County Council are intent on imposing on 4,500 elderly and disabled people  across the County as part of a £31 million saving in the Council’s Adult’s Services budget over the next three years.

 Despite the adverse publicity, The Council remained un-moved. In a letter to Mrs Parker’s daughter, Jean Hobbs, the Council offered only a  ‘telephone reassessment,’ ignoring the fact that Mrs Parker is also profoundly deaf.

 At a mass protest against these pernicious care cuts by the disabled and elderly outside County Hall in May, Jean Hobbs and her sister Brenda Abbott confronted Cllr Peter Catchpole, the WSCC Cabinet member responsible for Adult’s Services who agreed to meet and discuss their Mother’s case. “It didn’t lead to anything” Says Jean Hobbs, “He seemed sympathetic, but he did nothing to help have my Mother’s case re-opened.”

 Bindmans, the human rights law firm representing the Don’t Cut Us Out call for a judicial review against these care cuts, took up Mrs Parker’s case. So did Francis Maude, Mrs Parker’s MP, but it was only after Mrs Parker suffered a serious fall, just as daughter Jean Hobbs and campaigners had fearfully predicted, that common sense finally prevailed within WSCC, and Mrs Parker’s care package was reinstated.

 “My mother suffered yet another fall in her flat, there was no one to help her, and paramedics found her lying in her front door where she had crawled to raise the alarm. The paramedics wrote a damning report and the Council had an immediate change of heart, but these past five months have been extremely traumatic for my Mother and very worrying for her family.”  Said Mrs Hobbs this week. Her greatest concern now is for other elderly people like her mother, and the devastating effect these wholesale cuts in care support are having on the vulnerable. “We are very grateful to everyone who has supported us, and just hope that lessons will be learned from my Mother’s case. Taking away vital care from those least able to care for themselves is not only unfair, it is dangerous.”

 Amanda Rogers, the Director of WSCC’s Adult’s Services has admitted to problems implementing the Council’s programme of cuts. In a letter to Councillors and  staff, she informed them. “Planning assumptions were that the reassessments of all customers living in the community (non-residential) would be completed by the end of September 2011. We have found, however, that each reassessment is taking longer than we had originally planned. Customers and families are needing longer to discuss and consider their social care needs, in some cases requiring more than one visit.”  

The reassessment of all 9,000 people across West Sussex claiming some form of care support, is now not expected to be completed until the end of March next year, forcing the Council to contract with a private care provider to take over some of the reassessment programme at an additional cost of £130,000. 

On September 22, the Council’s Adult Services Select Committee is due to review the impact that these cuts in social care is having on the community, and has invited carers and those receiving support to share their experiences by answering a questionnaire on the WSCC web site

http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/your_council/meetings_and_decision-making/meetings/select_committees/adults_services_select_commit.aspx

On September 22, The Cares Support Service is  organising an information workshop to help carers prepare for the reassessment programme at the Bersted Green Learning Centre. Details are posted on www.dontcutusout.org.uk