| |
Betrayal of vulnerable
USERS of the Lambo and Ashley Road day centres have been sold down the river by the very people who are supposed to represent them: IBUG (Islington Borough User Group) and Islington Mind (Colleagues clash over merger of day centres, July 11).
At the council executive meeting on July 3, Councillor John Gilbert boasted that his proposals to close Ashley Road and dump its users into Lambo had the official support of both these organisations.
IBUG and Mind are almost entirely funded by the very commissioners who have decided to scrap our services. In the year ended March 2007, IBUG got £29,936 from the council and Mind were paid £723,668 by the council and the Primary Care Trust. Is it any wonder they appear to have betrayed their purpose to speak up for the people least able to speak for themselves?
It is difficult to believe that Mind would approve the closure of its own day centre, Ashley Road, for which it gets £167,083, without the certain belief that it would be offered the new contract at the Despard Road site, which may have an even larger cash value for it.
Since the executive decision, the chairman of IBUG, Peter Jones, has claimed he did not support the proposal, that he was misunderstood. A petition stating that service users have no confidence in him is being circulated. Some users have stated their intention to complain to the national Mind organisation.
To add insult to injury, we learn that the Lambo site at Despard Road is not even wheelchair accessible: there is no lift or ramps. Yet this was given as a reason for closing Ashley Road in preference to Despard Road. The other reason – that Ashley Road is overcrowded – was resolved months ago, yet it is still being trotted out as an excuse.
I had thought that Lib Dems, whether you supported them or not, were pragmatic and ethical, but in Islington they seem to be the new nasty party.
DEEPAK PATEL
Caledonian Road, N1
I AM surprised that John Gilbert is the councillor behind the plan to close Ashley Road day centre for the mentally ill. He says it is “not about selling off Ashley Road and pocketing the proceeds” of this nine-room, family house, which must be worth a cool £1 million.
Perhaps he does not realise it is more than a house for those vulnerable people who go there – it is their home. Many of the people attending Ashley Road were brought up in dysfunctional or abusive homes, or raised in institutions.
What this house offers them is a sense of family life. They cook for each other and the staff take the place of the caring parents some of them never had. Some of their friends who were not able to carry on have their ashes buried in the garden.
Cllr Gilbert wants to kick out these poor people against their will. As a trustee of the Christian homelessness charity, Housing Justice, Cllr Gilbert should know better. He seems to have forgotten its mission: “Our vision is of a society where every person has access to a home that truly meets their needs.” Except mentally ill people, it seems.
Come on, John, show a bit of Christian charity and leave these people alone. Have they not suffered enough?
Mary O’Donelly
Richmond Crescent, N1
|
 |
|
| |
| Your Comments : |
Deepak Patel, iBUG have been 100% against the closure of Ashley Road since day One of the Day Services Review since day one. I am a member of iBUG and have seen all of the documentation sent to Commissioners and Cllr Gilbert. I was in attendance at a meeting with iBUG and Cllr Gilbert on 16th June 08 at Hanley Road Employment and Education Project when iBUG firm stance was yet again re-iterated.
As to the petition you refer to, people have been misled as to what they have actually been signing, and at the most recent iBUG meeting on 22-7-08 at Southwood Smith, Peter Jones and the other iBUG Directors were infact given unanimous support by their members.
I suggest that you are either grossly mis-informed of your facts, or are
infact a disgruntled Camden service user who thrives on causing havoc
within user groups.
Richard Hiorns
|
| |
| |
