John Hart, a 77-year old retired army officer who has served for 15 years as a Conservative councillor for Mill Hill, puts it bluntly. "We are all for decentralising and letting people do their own thing," he said. "It is cardinal Tory stuff. People should be as independent as they can for as long as they can. "With council tenants, and I'll admit I am putting it crudely, it has been a lot of 'my arse needs wiping, and somebody from the council can come and do it for me.'There were two aspects of this comment which I found to be offensive and which mean that I think John does not deserve to be reelected to serve Mill Hill.
Firstly the Barnets Conservative Council have been trying (with increasing levels of desperation and failure) to abolish the wardens at Sheltered housing locations. This ended up in the High Court with
Barnet losing a judicial review. Barnet Council conducted a consultation, which they then ignored. How Hart can say "We are all for decentralising and letting people do their own thing," he said. "It is cardinal Tory stuff. People should be as independent as they can for as long as they can!" then vote to abolish the wardens, stealing the independence of elderly people is beyond me. Some of these people will be forced into full time care, adding millions to the councils care budget. He talks about decentralising and letting people do their own thing, but the Barnet Tories IGNORED the consultation results where 85% of tenants rejected their proposals. John Hart is one of Barnets elder statesmen. He should be standing up for the elderly and disabled of Barnet who live in Sheltered accomodation, not his Tory cronies. How anyone can claim, as Barnets Torys are doing that getting rid of three quarters of all wardens and making the rest have to drive from site to site is an improvement, just shows how deluded they all are. That's why they lost in court.
The second reason I found this highly offensive was a reason far closer to home. Last year my Father in Law died. For the last 18 months of his life, he needed (to use John Harts lovely phrase) "someone from the council to come round and wipe his arse". To get out of his chair he needed a team of council carers to winch him, wash him, dress him, change his diapers. They visited three times a daya.I'd really rather not have to share this, but I was so outraged that someone who is involved in the care of the elderly, sick and disabled just should not say these type of things. My Father in Law was a proud man. He didn't like the way he lived his life. There are hundreds of people in a similar situation to him in Barnet. Some in Council houses, sheltered accomodation and some in private homes. John Harts comments stigmatise these people. Many of them lived, worked hard and paid taxes all of their lives. In short, I think that John Harts comments were an insult to my father in law and the many people in his situation in Barnet.
Sadly the Barnet Conservatives, lead by Lynne Hillan are completely out of touch. They don't realise that sheltered housing wardens save money by keeping people out of full time care. They don't realise that the elderly who need their "arses wiping" are the people who built this country with their work and their taxes. I had no appreciation of the care provided by Barnet Council to the elderly until my mother had a stroke and needed meals on wheels and then my father in law went senile and needed constant care. I have nothing but praise for the staff who provide it for Barnet. Sadly they are let down by the people at the top. That is why I think John Hart and his Conservative colleagues should not be running the Council. That is why I think John Hart should not be representing Mill Hill.
1 comment:
Rog
Sadly, it is impossible to fault what you say. A very close friend of mine died last year at the grand age of 98. Barnet’s social services were fantastic and a carer attended twice a day to help her with her personal care. It was very frustrating for my friend, because her mind was sharp and active, but her body had simply packed up.
Does John Hart seriously think that people are too lazy to wipe their own backsides? Perhaps it is the company he keeps? For everyone else, we can only imagine about the loss of dignity and it is amazing that there are such dedicated carers willing to help people like my friend. Without that help, she would have been forced into a care home, which she was desperate to avoid.
It seems that John Hart is another councillor who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
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