Age Concern breaks silence

Age Concern has, at last, broken its silence since 22nd April when the organisation's trustees met to decide the future of day care facilities across Cheshire, including those at Thornton House in Audlem.

A letter from the trustees gets off to a bad start, saying: "The Trustees of Age Concern Cheshire have now completed the consultation on the proposed redesign of services and in particular, the proposals to move away from providing day services to expand the Supporting You service."

It's a bad start because we are told by people who received letters from Age Concern in April saying they were to be consulted, that they never heard any more. Yes, it appears the organisation, hardly surprisingly, was inundated by complaints about their proposals but consultation with users and volunteers, no, it doesn't seem to have happened as proposed.

Despite this, it does appear the howls of protest have had some impact. Age Concern now say: "The Trustees....want to put forward a middle way, which would allow for the expansion of the Supporting You service, whilst enabling the continuation of day services, where the community wishes for them to continue."

They go on to say: "This would involve working with communities to establish day services independently of Age Concern."

The Trustees then pay tribute to the volunteers who assist in transport and the care of elderly users whilst at the centres. They assure day services users that the process of change will not be rushed, changes will be phased and "we will endeavour that current services will not be discontinued until alternative services have been established."

All involved can only trust that these words mean more than the promise to consult with individual users two months ago.

The Trustees also comment that they must be aware of the objectives of their partners, including the local authority commissioners. What, we wonder, will Cheshire East now do to support the continuation of the Audlem facilities independently of Age Concern.

Ever helpfully, Age Concern now says it will contact users to seek their views. This will include asking, often very elderly people, questions like:

• Is there anything you would change about your life now?
• What did you used to do that you don't do now?

We suspect that some of the answers might provide food for thought for Age Concern! Or should we say, Age UK, as the 'Concern' bit has now been dropped from the organisation's national name.

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