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Question from: County Councillor Beverley Baynham Subject: Day Centres
Question:
Further to the Question submitted by Cllr Gareth Ratcliff on the 13th of June 2022 regarding the re-opening of Day Centre’s, I seek further clarity on the response.
Many members of the community are now asking when the Day Centre is going to open given Covid restrictions have ceased.
Cllr Sian Cox stated – “Any re-opening of day centres relies on a sufficiency of staffing for re-openings to be viable and safe. We are currently experimenting with phased re-opening of day centres between now and the end of July, but we need to do this with reference to premises' risk assessments and staffing availability.”
Could the Portfolio Holder please confirm - 1. What “experiments” have taken place? 2. If the risk assessments have been completed? 3. The number of available staff? 4. The number of staff required to safely open each Day Centre in Powys? 5. What services the people who were attending Day Centre’s in Powys prior to Covid-19 are receiving in place of day care?
We are almost at the end of July and the Day Centre in my ward has received no communication from the Portfolio Holder or any officer to make enquiries on re-opening, despite sending repeated emails following the publication of the question and response.
Could the Portfolio Holder confirm if indeed any work has been done to re-open Day Centre’s and if not explain why not?
Minutes: Response by the Cabinet Member:
1. The Council is looking at ways to re-open the day centres and has re-opened a limited service in several in-house day service settings for individuals who have disabilities, as well as some older people’s services, such as Arosfa in Brecon. 2. All in-house day services that have been re-opened have done so with completed risk assessments in place. 3. The staffing situation has changed over the period of the pandemic with many staff having been working in the community to help people in their own homes, and several staff having chosen to retire or leave the service. Therefore, ensuring that sufficient human resources is available to enable safe service provision is essential. 4. The number of staff required for each day centre varies according to the number of registered day centre users, how many people need transport provision, the needs of the service users, and the building environment. This is assessed by service for each in-house day centre. 5. A variety of services have been provided and this has changed throughout the pandemic, as individuals’ needs have changed. Some service users have received home-support services; others have received domiciliary care and/or direct payments; and some have accessed support via befriending and other services. Over the period of the pandemic, some service uses no longer require day services nor alternatives, with some moving into care accommodation.
Social Services officers are planning to meet with independent day centre providers in the next few weeks to discuss their particular services. The delay in doing so to date is regretful and it has clearly led to some frustration on the part of some service providers, and we will aim to resolve this in the very near future.
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