Sponsored by
Sign up to save the day centres
A PETITION demanding thatv the future of day services in Buckingham be safeguarded is to be drawn up by Buckingham Town Council.
Councillors agreed on Monday to send a strongly worded letter to the chairman and other councillors at Bucks County Council expressing their concerns over the future of the Red Cross Day Centre and the Well Street Centre.
The county council's Having a Good Day consultation document says the council is planning to use resources released from 22 buildings it owns to create a network of 'fit for purpose' buildings.
The petition being put together by the town council will be available to organisations around the town from the end of the week.
Buckingham town councillor, Howard Mordue, said he remembered how hard the town worked to have the Red Cross Day Centre built around 30 years ago.
He told the council that the centre provided a place where the elderly and those needing care could go to be fed and looked after and that if the centre no longer provided that service, it could lead to people being left isolated.
"The population of the county is going to change in the next few years," he said. "The number of people will double. You can't say
there is no need for the day centre. What they are saying is this care is better done in the home. If you do that, they won't get the benefit of interaction with other people."
He added that four out of the five proposed hubs and satellites would be stationed in Aylesbury or south Bucks, leaving one satellite 'serving half the county' in Buckingham.
Councillor Geraldine Collins said she was concerned what effect the changes would have on people with dementia, who needed a daily routine.
She said: "The idea was they could transport people from home to where they had to be. The council has failed to accept that if you keep moving these people, they can become worse and it can shut them off completely."
Councillors were also concerned that any new satellite would not be in place before the old buildings were shut down.
>> The deadline for the consultation has been extended to September 6 to allow more time for parish councils to respond.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Buckingham
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North
