Plans to Axe Eight Disability Day Care Projects in Aberdeenshire Sparks Outrage Among Families

Service users and their families have hit out at plans to axe eight disability day care projects across Aberdeenshire.
The Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership revealed that it would have to make major changes to its regional services in a bid to save £17 million.
Members of the integration joint board will consider the proposals when it meets next week.
Papers reveal the partnership is looking to retain day services at Robertson Road Centre in Fraserburgh which would act as the main hub in the north.
Banff Day Services and Buchan Day Opportunities would be kept alongside this.
However a number of services across the region are at threat of being closed including Can-Do Recycling and Shop in Fraserburgh and Connecting the Broch.
Angry parents and service users recently came out in force at the Robertson Road facility to protest against the changes.
One of those holding a placard at the demonstration is Gordon Thomson who is a familar face at Can-Do in Fraserburgh.
He has been attending the community recycling project at the town’s Westshore Industrial Estate for around 17 years.
Gordon attends the facility three days a week and visits the Robertson Road centre on Thursdays for cooking sessions.
But, the announcement that Can-Do was at threat of being axed filled him with dread.
He explained: “These two lassies came in and told me, they said “sorry to tell you but we’ve got to stop”.
“I’m still there yet, but I haven’t got a clue what is happening there and I don’t know when it will end.”
Gordon said the revelation made him feel “very, very sad”.
He added: “It really hurt me… It will be a big miss to me whenever it happens.”
Gordon revealed the news of his beloved project being at risk of closing came as a big shock, so much so that he didn’t leave his bed the next day.
“I couldn’t even move, my carer wondered what was happening because she was phoning me up,” he said.
“When she came in, I eventually told her and it just started me up again and I told her I couldn’t go in.”
“That day I got told, I actually bolted out of the door and almost knocked the boss down.
Gordon admits he finds working in the shop “boring”, but he loves organising the recycling into their designated buckets – and all of the separation is done by hand.
The site also deals with large oil cans collected from restaurants and soft bags.
Once everything is in the right place, it is bailed up and taken away.
Service users and volunteers then clean the buckets ready for the next day.
“The best thing is when it comes to half past two and you go, “Yee-ha!” because it’s time to go,” Gordon says with a chuckle.
“I’d like to know what is going to happen with the shop and what they are going to do with all the stuff that’s inside it – it’s a busy place.”
Julie Buchan volunteers at Can-Do and works alongside “hard worker” Gordon, and it’s clear the two have struck up a close bond.
“Gordon is just the bones of the place,” she tells me.
“He knows all of the work and helps other service users – he helped me as a volunteer.
Gordon instantly fires back: “I keep her right.
“We are the A-Team because we don’t muck about, we just get going.”
Julie started volunteering at Can-Do a couple of years ago and admits she didn’t realise how much went on there.
“They provide donated affordable furniture, household items, bikes and beds for people that need it.
“The recycling element of it is widespread because the collection trucks go out to Banff, Macduff, Mintlaw, right round to Fyvie.
“The plastic cans and tins we collect from organisations, pubs, cafes and playgroups, but also the likes of the galas during the summer.
“If Can-Do is not collecting all of the recycling, where is all of that stuff going to go?”
Anne Marie Lyttel worked in the Can-Do shop, and said she was “disappointed” it was facing closure.
She also benefited from the Connecting the Broch service that is also at threat of being axed.
Plans have been made for Gordon to attend the Men’s Shed instead, however a recent visit left him feeling disappointed as he struggled to access the site with his wheelchair.
I then meet Anne-Marie Lawrence.
Her 19-year-old son Dylan has been attending Robertson Road for just over a year but he also visits Can-Do a couple of days a week.
The proud mum said: “He loves Can-Do, he likes getting out in the truck.”
Julie attests to this: “When he is on the table, he gets stuck right in and shovels the tins away.”
However, Anne-Marie tells me Dylan’s future care provision still hangs in the balance.
“I’ve not had confirmation in writing but I got a text message to say not to worry about Dylan, he would still meet the criteria,” she tells me.
“When I had my meeting for my son, they asked how I would feel about travelling to Inverurie.
“I told them I didn’t have time to travel across the north-east, I’ve got my own job to go to – they just don’t think.”
Another mum willing to share her story is Alison Duthie.
Her 19-year-old son Christopher, who takes seizures, has epilepsy and severe learning disabilities, has been attending the Robertson Road centre for almost a year.
Alison was told back in March that he still had a place there even though no decisions were supposed to made until the integration joint board meeting next week.
However, this confirmation didn’t come in writing – just word of mouth from his social worker.
Christopher visits the centre four days per week, but this could be cut down to just three.
“We get 22 hours just now.
“If we don’t get that and there’s nothing to entertain Christopher in the Broch, it would affect his mental health and mine as well.
“You fight tooth and nail for your bairns, and because they are disabled they’ve gotten a raw deal – it’s heartbreaking.
“Why target the disabled? We need the support.”
The furious mum added: “It’s absolutely disgusting how they are treating the disabled people, it’s like they are like second class citizens and they don’t matter.
“We need this place because there is absolutely nothing at all in Fraserburgh.
“It’s not a state-of-the-art building or anything fancy but we really need it for our people.
I then meet Denise MacDonald and her sister-in-law Ellie Fairclough.
Denise took on the role of being Ellie’s personal assistant but admits she sees Ellie as a daughter.
The 28-year-old has Down’s syndrome and a weak heart, and is monitored regularly.
Ellie attends Robertson Road five days a week and loves going there to hang out with her friends.
The family have been told that going forward, Ellie will qualify for two or three days maximum and this is causing concern.
“What’s going to happen to Ellie for the two or three days she’s not at the centre? My partner works full-time so who is going to watch Ellie?
“Ellie can’t go on the bus, she has no concept of what money is and she wouldn’t know when to get off… She needs to be with an adult 24/7.
“Because she has epilepsy as well, she fainted in the kitchen a couple of months ago and we had to call 999.
“Between the epilepsy and her heart, I just panicked, but luckily she was fine and I just had to monitor her but this happens quite often.”
Denise explains that Ellie doesn’t understand what is going on at the moment and won’t take the reduction in days well as she hates change.
“If I said to her she can’t go to Robertson Road she’d ask why and think she did something wrong.”
Charlene Coultherd’s 18-year-old daughter Erin started attending Robertson Road last summer after leaving Westfield School.
The teenager has Down’s syndrome and was born with congenital heart disease.
Charlene was told her daughter would never be able to work or go to college so Robertson Road was her only option.
Her social worker suggested Erin would still have a space but the family have not had anything confirmed.
“The biggest disappointment is that at the moment there is such a good range of folk, they are all different and learn off each other.
“The new idea is just segregation of the most profoundly disabled together – and I don’t think that’s good for any of them.
“I know my Erin learns off the ones that are the most able, but if she is just with folk of the same ability they aren’t going to progress.”
Sandra Wood’s son, 23-year-old Fraser, also loves going to Robertson Road.
“My son is profound so it was a given that he would still have a place because he is severely disabled,” Sandra tells me.
“The papers said the centre would be the main hub and remain open but that doesn’t mean that we are safe – it’s what it will look like from now on that’s our worry.”
“Fraser and others like him have had this stigma from the day they are born that there is so much they can’t access because they are disabled.
“Now this is just being highlighted by the people who are supposed to look after them and their needs.”
She tells me that non-verbal Fraser loves nothing more than being with folk that are really vocal and singing.
“He only gets that joy because he is feeding off everybody else who is with him.
“They are all going to feel isolated because they aren’t going to see that interaction anymore because they can’t participate the same.
“He has friends who will come over and help him with his hand to do something or sit with him and sing or play the tambourine.
“He’s not going to have that if this is what they are decide to do and it’s unbearable to think that’s a possibility that will happen.”
Aberdeenshire health chiefs carried out studies on each of the services at risk, determining how adversely their closure could affect vulnerable people.
They say the “majority” of people who attend Can-Do are “not eligible” for in-house daycare services and will “be offered an alternative” within the community.
The report states: “Learning disability teams are skilled in supporting transitions with service users/families /carers and will work with them to support people into new or alternative services.
“Traditionally services like Fraserburgh Can-Do Recycling and Shop were supporting less complex people with learning disabilities.” ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

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