It doesn’t sound a big deal does it, having a place to live?
It’s something we all need and most manage one way or another. For those that need significant help I would like to think as a compassionate and right-thinking Nation we would all want to see our most vulnerable citizens given the means to have their needs met and be afforded a reasonable quality of life. Sadly we know that often the reason someone ends up in an ATU is simply because there are insufficient resources locally to make it happen. Many also remain in ATUs far too long for the same reason.
Resources certainly need careful thought and planning but shouldn’t be that difficult to organise surely? Cleary in the current financial climate the lack of money is one of the main reasons why Local Authorities and CCGs cannot seem to provide appropriate housing and associated resources at a local level but actually the percentage of the population needing discharge and somewhere to live in their communities is tiny. I am no mathematical genius but assuming a population in England of say 50 million and looking to help accommodate 3000 people this only represents around 0.006% of the population. Pathetic really isn’t it that we, such a rich Nation, can’t stump up enough cash for this vital but very small scale need? My pointy finger of blame for this has to be directed firmly at Government austerity measures but is also being wagged energetically (and frequently) at those who set the priorities locally. (You know who you are)
What are we hoping for?
The aim as I see it (and stating the obvious) must be to persuade those responsible to develop and maintain a range of accommodation (and support), in as many localities as possible, to meet a wide range of complex needs providing choice and flexibility in a variety of settings. (One size does not fit all!)
What work is going on at the moment?
The NHS Transforming Care programme https://www.england.nhs.uk/learningdisabilities/care/ is piloting change at the moment to try and work out how best to make all this happen. Currently I see this as our best hope to develop and deliver what we need. As with Care and Treatment Reviews this seems to me a very positive initiative which is working hard to develop and embed the change that we all need. We just need it finished yesterday.
So what can we do to help drive change and get loved ones home?
This is a tricky one. Local Authorities are all punch-drunk from an avalanche of on-going change. Thanks to austerity measures which the current Government is choosing to impose upon us all on-going cuts and the resulting changes to service provision are hitting everyone hard. My own Local Authority for example has lost something like half of its funding from Central Government over the past few years. Our CCGS are also struggling to transform their commissioned services and are driving forward huge change programmes to try and make ends meet. More change then will not exactly be welcome however urgent. To make it worse I get the impression that because numbers affected are relatively low officialdom actually sees this as a low priority!
What we must do is more of what we are doing this week. Raising the profile of our cause, lobbying the people that can encourage change, carry on highlighting individual stories and campaigning for change. We must also keep reminding the Authorities, as they seem to have forgotten, that closing ATUs will save shedloads of money that can then be reinvested on local provision.
If there is a campaign to be fought after this one I think one aim should be to target those controlling the money supply at all levels.
If you can help in any way please, please do what you can. We are not talking nice-to-haves here, as we are hearing today, sometimes it can mean life or death.
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