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Burnham residents oppose council's potential closures of Adult Day Care Centres

Bucks Council wants to stop delivering the services at four of its seven day centres and deliver them elsewhere, while keeping three of the sites open under a plan to save £14.4 million in adult social care over the next 18 months.

Day centres used by vulnerable adults will be closed and sold off if plans drawn up by Buckinghamshire Council are followed through.

The unitary authority runs a service called ‘short breaks’ to help adults with autism, learning and physical disabilities, mental health needs, dementia and other complex needs improve their lives and skills with vital support and activities.

The plan, the council’s ‘preferred option’, would see the day centres in Aylesbury, Chesham and Spring Valley in High Wycombe kept open, while those in Buckingham, Burnham, Hillcrest in High Wycombe and Seeleys House in Beaconsfield would be repurposed or sold.

Selling the Burnham, Hillcrest and Seeleys House sites could make generate a ‘capital receipt’ of between £2.14 and £6.77 million for the council, while the Buckingham centre could be used for provision for young people special educational needs and disabilities.

The council argues that its short breaks service ‘is not providing value for money’ compared to other services, that the ‘building-based day care is now out-dated’ and that demand for the service has dropped by 61 per cent since 2020, meaning that it now only supports 128 people across the seven sites.

For the full background and original article click here.

Burnham residents have organized an event on Saturday at 10:00 am, (18th January 2025). They will be assembling outside the Burnham Adult Day Care Centre to express their opposition to the council's potential decision to close the facility.

Buckinghamshire Council Statement:

Angela Macpherson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing said: “Buckinghamshire Council is currently in the process of consulting on how best to address the challenges facing our adult social care service when it comes to day centre provision and no final decisions have yet been made.

“We are committed to ensuring that every adult who is supported by adult social care continues to receive the high-quality support that they need. While council-run services are highly valued the challenges cannot be ignored. In recent years, the number of people accessing our services has fallen and buildings are underused. Some buildings also require significant investment, and the service is not providing value for money.

"We have extended our current consultation until Friday 31 January 2025 to enable more time for feedback on this important issue and I would encourage everyone who hasn’t yet done so to take part.

“We have identified a preferred option in the consultation which is to operate a smaller number of council-run day centres offering specialist provision and combining this with increasing the delivery of day and overnight respite services provided by external organisations. The key benefits of this approach are that it would enable more people to be supported at the remaining council sites with investment in the buildings, more external organisations supporting people, and more cost-effective services.

“Providing the right support for vulnerable adults in the community to live well and support their independence is paramount. We must also strive to ensure that council services are cost-effective.

“I would stress once again that no decision has been made. I would encourage everyone to look at our webpage to find out more about the consultation and have your say: https://yourvoicebucks.citizenspace.com/adult-social-care/better-lives-in-our-communities

 

Organiser, Cole Caesar, says " It is essential to highlight the concerns of the Burnham residents regarding this council decision."

Cole Caesar talking to Bucks Radio about his event on Saturday.

 

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