Anger over cut to vital service (From Bromsgrove Advertiser)

Anger over cut to vital service

7:43am Thursday 8th May 2008

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ANGRY residents at a home for the elderly are disgusted after changes to their accommodation led to a cut in vital services.

Last year the Advertiser/Messenger reported on the loss of the 24-hour warden service which hit tenants of Bromsgrove District Housing Trust's (BDHT) Crabtree Court and Shenstone Court.

“It’s disgusting. All I want is for someone to tell us the truth."

Crabtree Court resident

Now residents of Crabtree Court, in Parkwood Road, have learned that their complexes has been downgraded from very sheltered' to sheltered' accommodation.

As a result, tenants have lost their on-site wardens which cost residents just over £40, with residents being refunded their money. This has been replaced with an alternative scheme where residents pay £5 for a warden to ring and check every morning.

With hours reduced at weekends, and no cover during bank holidays, residents are relying on a lifeline telephone service and raising the alarm themselves, if they are in danger.

Many residents have been upset at the changes and some had made themselves ill, worrying about the situation. One resident said they had only been told about the changes by wardens and no one from BDHT had been to explain.

"It's disgusting. All I want is for someone to tell us the truth," she said.

Another said they moved to the accommodation last June, believing there would be round-the-clock wardens and now felt like they had come "under false pretences."

But Sue Rollason, head of supported services at BDHT, said: "We have committed £4.5m to developing a state-of-the-art extra care scheme at Gilbert Court to ensure the district's most vulnerable residents' needs are met. Those more vulnerable residents currently living in Crabtree and Shenstone Court will be offered places at the extra care units.

"Our very sheltered schemes will become classed as sheltered to better meet the needs of more active residents. This change will see each resident save more than £32 a week.

"A call system operates to ensure residents have a round-the-clock response. This change has been positively received by residents.

"Our intention is to provide the best service for all residents and to keep them informed at all times."

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