LIVERPOOL CARE CRISIS GETS EVEN WORSE!

Liverpool care firm collapse hits 500 patients

Jul 13 2007

by Jessica Shaughnessy, Liverpool Daily Post

A HOME care agency relied on by hundreds of Liverpool’s most vulnerable people is to go into liquidation. Lyndhurst Home Care will shut down today, leaving more than 500 service users, mostly elderly, and 200 carers uncertain of their future. The closure comes just weeks after the company warned that controversial changes in city council contracts would drive it out of business. Liverpool City Council last night moved to reassure the elderly people dependent on the agency that plans were already in place to look after them. But care industry insiders say the news spells the start of a “wake-up call” for the authority. Tearful carers, who will not be officially informed by Lyndhurst, about the redundancies until a meeting at 3pm today, last night accused company directors of keeping them in the dark. One said: “We feel used and let down. Our future has been hanging in the balance since the new contracts were signed weeks ago. “We were encouraged by our managers to campaign against the council and attend meetings. We stuck up for Lyndhurst. “They have been planning this for days and they have not told us a thing. We have only heard rumours.” In a legal letter written to the council days before it went under, Lyndhurst blamed recent controversial contract changes, and asked for an urgent meeting in a last ditch-bid to avoid liquidation. The letter said: “The implications of making staff redundant will be that some 525 service users will not receive care from the company. “This may result in life-threatening situations for those service users that have a high degree of dependency on the care provided. “The company has attempted on a number of occasions to raise these concerns with Liverpool City Council. Despite these efforts, no constructive response has been received. “The company wishes to avoid any liquidation proceedings and would seek to meet with LCC as a matter of urgency to try and resolve this situation.” But this week no compromise agreement was reached, and the company will now fold. The carers and services users are now being divided between three of the city’s other care providers, Merseycare Julianne, Homecarers and Local Solutions. Managers at the firms and council officers are said to have been working around the clock over the last three days to ensure as smooth a transition as possible. The council says that where possible, patients will be transferred to a new company with their existing carer. Officers were last night contacting as many carers as possible to tell them which company they will be working for from tomorrow. Executive director of community services Tony Hunter said: “Our first priority is the safety and care of our clients. “I am pleased that we have been able to work very closely with our other providers, who have shown great professionalism and commitment during this challenging period in agreeing to take on the additional work at extremely short notice. “Our commitment to providing excellent services will continue throughout this transition period and the city council and its contractors will be providing advice and support, and overseeing the entire process until all of the necessary arrangements are in place. “Every single person who receives care from Lyndhurst will be receiving a letter from the city council outlining the process and how the new arrangements will be implemented.” The city’s home care industry warned its future was unstable after their contracts were changed. The terms meant that carers faced a pay cut of up to 30% and in the weeks after the companies signed up, staff walked out in their droves. But last night, one home care manager said the future would be more certain for the other companies. He said: “A major problem for all of the companies was that we were given less hours on a lower rate. “Now the agencies left over have more hours, it means we will become more viable.” GMB regional organiser Karen Atkinson said last night that unions and staff were still in the dark about the developments. She said: “We asked Lyndhurst only this morning what was going on and they denied they were closing. “The staff are very distressed. Some of them say they have not received the right wages in two weeks.” Cllr Roz Gladden, Labour chairwoman of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, said: “This has been on the cards for weeks and the council did not listen and now there is chaos. This is no way to run a service.” Last night, the director of Lyndhurst, Len Collins, was unavailable for comment. * SERVICE users or carers who would like information about arrangements made for their care or future employment should call the city council’s Careline call centre on 0151 233 3019. READ more news from the Liverpool Daily Post

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CULTURE OR CARE?

This article is taken from society guardian on-line.

ALTHOUGH Blair McPherson is from Lancashire Council, he speaks as a general idea based on his experiences in Lancashire.

all thoughts on the article itself is from a capital view front, however it strikes a cord given Liverpool is actually CAPITAL of CULTURE!

Support your local carers, demand that they and the vulnerable people of the City do not suffer even more, just to fund the CAPITAL in the CULTURE events of 2008.

ANYONE GOT A SPARE £30 MILLION?

Capital in culture

Councils must take seriously the social and economic value of the arts when weighing up their spending priorities, writes Blair McPherson

Tuesday June 26, 2007
SocietyGuardian.co.uk

Blair McPherson: 'Culture is a fundamental ingredient in making for a better place to live'

Times are hard in local government. Big financial savings are required. Do we close a family centre or a museum; do we keep small rural libraries at the expense of closing a day centre for older people?

It's a no-brainer: services to vulnerable people come before culture. Or is there a case for cultural services being fundamental to delivering the big agendas of regeneration, community cohesion, social inclusion and wellbeing?

The significance of culture for local authorities is best understood by describing the range of services provided by local authorities that fall within the Department of Culture, Media and Sport's remit. In Lancashire, these services include libraries, museums, arts and archives.

Cultural services are not about aesthetics and taste but about the way communities describe and express themselves, how they portray themselves and about their sense of identity.

Community art can be used to help give a place an identity and a positive image by building on a place's heritage. Art projects can be used to harness the creativity of a community and to express loss, anger, celebration and aspiration in the face of economic and environmental change.

The outpouring of creative energy that was harnessed to help coal and shipbuilding industries adjust to loss and change was invaluable. Art, drama and music traditionally have been ways of rebelling and expressing dissent in a way that petitions, reports, and letters can never capture. Performing arts can provide an awareness-raising experience and connect with sections of the community that are often described as hard to reach.

An example of this nationally is the group of elderly people who have got together with a record producer to release a version of The Who's My Generation, drawing attention to the poor quality of life endured by many older people in society today.

Lancashire has its own sinfonietta, comprised of some of the country's finest musicians. Linked with the Sure Start programme in Lancashire, the sinfonietta puts on baby-friendly concerts. Classical musicians play Mozart live to young children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Cultural events such as music festivals can engage the young or showcase minority ethnic cultures through Caribbean carnivals or Asian melas. Art exhibitions can record a place's past or reflect present diversity. Plays in schools, films made by community groups and radio adverts designed by young people can engage a wider audience in addressing juvenile crime; bullying, binge drinking, graffiti and littering. In this way drama, music and art can bridge the generation gap and bring together sections of the community that might otherwise have no contact.

Libraries can provide venues for creative social activity, especially for the old and the very young. Libraries also provide access to computers to people who otherwise may not have access to email and the internet.

Museums provide the deep mines of heritage from which many communities extract their ideas about their past. In Burnley and the surrounding area, the terraced housing, canal-side warehouses and the large Asian population are all a direct result of the cotton industry. Well-preserved cotton mills that capture the noise, heat and risk to health and safety are not just interesting school history trip destinations, they are how your grandparents made a living and they explain why Burnley is different from other parts of Lancashire.

The economic benefit of a vigorous cultural services policy can equally match the social benefits. Cultural services - museums, arts and archives - attract visitors as part of tourism. It is estimated, for example, that for every £1 spent by Bolton council on its museums, an additional 60p is generated through the economic/tourism multiplier.

Arts development, including theatre, sculpture and crafts, also provides and supports an environment in which creative industries can thrive and support employment. In Lancashire it is estimated that each £1 spent on arts development generates an additional £5 from outside agencies, which in turn generates an economic multiplier.

Cultural services can influence a place's image and have a positive impact on people's view of where they live. An active cultural landscape is an indicator of whether a community is forward-looking, self-respecting and inspirational. These factors can be as important to the local economy as access to good road and rail links and a skilled workforce.

Investing in culture and investing in an area's cultural infrastructure requires local authorities to see the links between culture, regeneration, community cohesion, social inclusion and wellbeing. It requires recognition that, far from being the icing on the cake, culture is a fundamental ingredient in making for a better place to live, work, visit and invest in. In my experience it is not the local politicians who need convincing of this but my fellow local government officers.

· Blair McPherson is director of community services for Lancashire county council.

SIGN THE PETITION TODAY, OR HAVE NO-ONE TO CARE FOR YOU IN THE FUTURE

THESE PUBLIC SPIRITED AND VERY CONCERNED CITIZENS HAVE SIGNED THE PETITION I CREATED TO ASK THE PRIME MINISTER TO ENSURE THE BUDGETS FOR ELDERLY CARE GO ON THE ELDERLY AND NOT THE OVER PAID SENIOR MANAGERS WHO ARE PAID IN EXCESS OF £50,000 UPWARDS UNTIL YOU STOP AT THE HEAD OF ADULT SERVICES AT £130-150,000 PLUS 20% PERFORMANCE RELATED BONUS.
GO TO ACTUAL WEBSITE TO COMPLETE FORM, THIS IS JUST A COPY OF THE SITE.
HOME ADDRESS IS NOT KEPT OR PUBLISHED IT IS TO ENSURE YOU ARE FROM A BRITISH RESIDENCE. CLICK HERE TO SIGN

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Provide more public funding towards the care of the elderly and vulnerable in Liverpool City. More details

Submitted by Tori Blare – Deadline to sign up by: 01 December 2007 – Signatures: 53

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More details from petition creator

The Liverpool City Council are £29 million pounds overspent in their budget for Capital of Culture. The Liberal Democrat controlled Administration have insisted that the Private care providers, sign a new contract for this provision of care which equates to a 30% cut across the services, having the direct effect on the staff and the vulnerable. The same administration has decided to cease the existence of the generic council run home care service. This again has a direct impact on the carers and the vulnerable. We request that the Government ensures the full budgets are released for the vulnerable and elderly citizens of Liverpool and not in the form of high wages for the senior management teams of the caring profession.

Current signatories

Tori Blare, the Petition Creator, joined by:

• pat b
• daniel duffy
• Charlotta Jones
• margaret walker
• Sue Mayers
• Mailytn Sheeran
• John Michael Bramwell
• Chris Collins
• Helen Bramwell
• Thomas McNiven
• Pam Scrimshaw
• victoria wright
• Timothy Hayden
• doreen watling
• pat watling
• Anne Campbell
• MARIE THOMAS
• chris austin
• Katie Fowler
• carol davidson
• Pat Dandy
• Julie Finnigan
• Rob Lacy
• Neil Hughes
• Pat Williams
• Mildred Moahner
• Stori Blare
• Steve Downey
• Janet Jones
• Matthew Eland
• Helen willingham
• Brenda Hincks
• Wendy Smith
• susan healy
• Carolyn Curtis
• Jenny Hincks
• P. Stevens
• BRENDA WHEATLEY
• andrew healy
• Irene Witter
• Nick Wall
• Liam Foster
• Martin Burke
• maria seanor
• Sue Egan
• colin hincks
• kelly sweeney
• Celia Waiters
• Jo Waiters
• Angela Stevenson
• Michael JP Lawler
• Caroline Jeans