Lancashire County Council issues statement on future of under-threat day centres
The services were put under the microscope last year.
The users and staff of three Lancashire County Council-run day centres have been told that the facilities will remain open, following a review by the authority.
Vale View in Lancaster, Milbanke in Kirkham and Ormskirk's Derby Centre were amongst five daycare services whose futures were thrown into doubt last October.
The county council said it was considering the "reprovision" of the establishments amid concern about the poor condition of some of the buildings and the degree to which they were being used.
A consultation was launched into the centres, along with five care homes, sparking a wave of petitions and protests from those concerned about the potential closure of the sites - although the authority insisted no pre-determined decisions had been taken to shut any of them.
The public response prompted the Reform UK administration at County Hall to announce in January that it had resolved to invest in the care homes - meaning that they would be staying open.
At the time, no such commitment was made over the day centres - but the authority has now confirmed the long-term future of the three that are currently in operation.
However, the Lancashire Post understands that the fate of two others that were part of the same review process - Teal Close in Thornton-Cleveleys and Byron View in Colne - now rests on the development of a new ‘model of care’ that will govern all county council adult social care services. Those two buildings were closed at the onset of the pandemic and never reopened - although their closures are still officially deemed to be only temporary.
A cabinet meeting on Tuesday was told that the authority planned to carry out a trial that would see some of its daycare facilities opened up for broader community use beyond their core function. It was stressed that the ‘test and learn’ process would not have any impact on the services that users of the day centres currently receive.
An announcement regarding the five under-review daycare premises had been expected at the cabinet gathering - but their futures were not explicitly set out during the discussion. The news that any of them would continue to operate had previously been issued as part of a broader press release on the forthcoming “co-production” work to develop a new model of care by September.
Cabinet member for adult social care Graham Dalton said that the process would "change Lancashire and its care settings for the better”.
Deputy Progressive Lancashire opposition group leader Gina Dowding said that the physical condition of Vale View was so poor that there was a case for committing “right now” to relocating the service, rather than waiting for the model of care blueprint to be drawn up.
“Everybody agrees that the current building is not fit for purpose. It seems from the feedback that everybody loves the service...[and] the vast majority [of] attendees come by arranged transport - so it doesn't really matter whether it's [moved] a few miles away,” said County Cllr Dowding, who represents the Lancashire Central division.
However, county council leader Stephen Atkinson rejected her call for a specific “task and finish group” to assess Vale View in isolation.
“This is a strategic review...that needs to be done across the whole service,” County Cllr Atkinson said.
He added that the consultation and the county council’s response to date proved that the authority is "listening" to those who rely on its care services.
Three quarters of the more than 1,500 people who gave their opinion in the survey were opposed to the possible closure and reprovision of the 10 care facilities that were part of the recent review.