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Hey Big Spenders!!!

LATEST - Ealing Spends Eighty Million Pounds on Agency Staff And ConsultantsAnd according to Ealing Council they are in dire straits with services being cut to the bone!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4259d10 Comments

And the additional £30,000 for Michael Mansfield QC who has begun an independent enquiry into local NHS configuration. But they didn't have the £100,000 needed to keep he Solace centre open until one of the clients threw himself under a train.

Maire Lowe ● 4259d

Could we please just get a couple of million so that Ealing can employ some more environment officers to check that businesses have their own industrial waste disposal bins, and that fly-tipping is promptly cleared away?

Malcolm Pacey ● 4257d

Wouldn't need anything like that. 6 full time officers would cost less than £360,000. Just by abolishing the Mayor's office,  closing down the colourful publicity projects and cancelling the increase in Councillors allowances, you could have your environmental health officers. However........

Maire Lowe ● 4257d

Councillor Gary Malcolm writing in the West London news."Labour’s national campaign about the NHS contrasts with the Labour party locally, who are more than prepared to close important local facilities. Ealing Council over the past few years has closed a number of day centres, affecting many people’s mental health. Closing more facilities like Ealing’s Solace and the Carton Road Day Centre in the Acton area, will mean more users suffer.It it important that the Solace Centre and other similar centres are kept open to provide its 365-day a year support for local vulnerable residents. One user said Ealing Council had played “Russian roulette with our lives.” Services like Solace only cost a tiny expenditure in the overall Council budget. Labour cannot absolve responsibility.Many users now do not believe what Labour say as they have closed so many centres and plan to close many more this year."

Maire Lowe ● 4256d

Local Ealing Central & Acton MP Angie Bray said  "The closure of the Solace Centre will mean the loss of a very special facility in the way it offers help and support and will, as a result, hit the most vulnerable and those who depend on it"Conservative Councillor Mark Reen asked that plans to close Solace be scrapped entirely. "The closure plans have been reviewed and Conservatives have pointed out repeatedly that not only will there be no saving as the residents of Solace show up elsewhere in the system but that the claims made regarding personal budgets and future support for the Solace community will be non-existent. It is time for Labour to withdraw their plans entirely and recognise the value that this facility provides - I call on the council not to simply withdraw the item from the Cabinet agenda but to scrap the plans entirely"

Joy Morrissey ● 4255d

On Carlton Road Day Centre closure read ChiswickW4.com Ealing "Council cabinet to vote on axing facility for the disabled" http://www.chiswickw4.com/default.asp?section=info&page=southfieldfocus.htm

Joy Morrissey ● 4254d

On Carlton Road Day CentreThe local Conservatives argue that the move will save Ealing just £200,000 per annum, a saving which would be wiped out if just one of the people cared for by the centre ended up in full-time residential care. As many of their current carers are now elderly, it is argued that they wouldn't be able to cope without the support of the facility. The Conservatives say the move is driven by looming changes in the Care Act which would make closure more difficult in the future.

Joy Morrissey ● 4254d

I find the local Labour attitude to Carlton Road and the Solace centre puzzling to say the least. We all agree economies must be made, but the savings made by closing these centres will be minimal. £300,000 per annum. If even one resident ends up in residential care at £700 per week, there will be no saving at all. But there will be loneliness. Other parts of the Health and Social care system will have to try to pick up the slack. There are better ways to find savings.

Maire Lowe ● 4254d

Lib Dems Say Carlton Day Centre Closure Is 'Immoral'http://www.chiswickw4.com/default.asp?section=info&page=carltondaycentreclosure.htmMP Angie Bray said; "I do query the priorities of Labour-run Ealing Council. Facilities like the Carlton Road Day Care Centre provide much-needed support not least for the carers themselves. It is also so short-termist as without care centres like this, some who depend on it will simply have to transfer to more expensive care elsewhere"

Joy Morrissey ● 4252d

It is extraordinary that, as the closure of Carlton Road day centre is announced, the Council spend £30,000 on a review of NHS services. If you added that to the cost of increasing Councillor allowances, you would have 50% of the cost of Carlton Road right there. What can local Labour be thinking?

Maire Lowe ● 4252d