By John Sullivan,
The lie that is Your Choice Barnet is simply a continuation
of the lie that is the Conservative council that purports to consult with and
then represent the views fears and feelings of Barnet residents which is yet
another lie. YCB is a Teckal company controlled completely and absolutely by
LBB Tory Councillors, every strategic decision made is made by them and simply
implemented by the puppet board members of YCB.
The title " Your Choice " gives you the impression
clients and family carers were afforded a choice, which is a complete Lie, no
alternative to the formation of the LATC was afforded us. What was effectively
the sales brochure that sold the formation of an LATC to us was riddled with
Lies, it was called " More Choice " yet the services now offer less
choice, it claimed the services would remain
the same and only the logo would change, yet another Lie. It highlighted
the fact that the formation of an LATC was inevitable due to direct payment legislation, which is
still to a point a grey area, and in the manner it was presented it was at the
very least an implied lie. Parents and family carers along with clients have
never been meaningfully consulted yet both YCB & Lbb claim they have, yet
another Lie. Compounded by the actions of the recent whitewash Task and Finish committee of Barnet Council enquiry,
that once again refused to consult with family carers parents or coal face
staff, making an informed outcome to such a
complex enquiry an impossibility, hence it can be described as yet
another lie. Councillor Rayner who cops big bucks for chairing the scrutiny
committee, that apparently fails to scrutinise enormous issues such as the One Barnet
contract, and the recent handling of £16.1 million of our money, promised this
enquiry would be transparent and honest then colluded to do the precise opposite,
yet another big fat Lie.
(This video clip contains John Sullivans letter to Barnet Council being read out at the Task and Finish meeting)
Then we have the implied LIE of Councillor Brian Salinger
who claims," I have no problem with making a profit ", which implies
YCB are making a profit which is yet another implied LIE. When adult services
were in house they worked within the confines of their budget, since the LATC
YCB was formed they have incurred massive losses. So much so they have had to borrow
£1 million pounds from us the Barnet taxpayers via Barnet Homes to get out of trouble. Worse than peddling
this implied lie, Brian Salinger appears to imply his support for the
destruction of the quality of services for disabled people in Barnet. The
simple reality being the only way you can make a profit from these disabled
folk, is to undermine and put at risk the long term quality of their lives and
support services .
Parents and family carers and anybody who truly cares about
and understands the nature of caring for adults with a learning and / or
physical difficulty, knows the importance of the building of long term relationships
between the client and the support worker. A bond that is built up over time
and allows the support worker to understand the moods and likes and dislikes of
those in their care, that allows them to protect their clients from harm or
perhaps self harm. Such as choking to death on food because the client happens
to gobble food, or spot the signs when the client needs to toilet to avoid the
embarrassment, small but important things that any parent knows about. This long
term bond is now broken by the prophets of greed at any price, this important
aspect of care is to them unimportant, the end result being the devaluation of
the long term quality of life of these innocent folk in order to make a profit,
and if that is not bad enough.
Just to add to the
destruction of the long term quality of life of disabled folk they have demoralised
the staff, cut some staff wages by upwards of 30% demoted long term staff and
cut their wages by 23%, and are about to cut the wages of staff even further
within the next few weeks, when they introduce the benchmarking exercise they
have been engaged in for several months. Which will drive out even more long term skilled staff, only to be
replaced by zero hours unskilled cheap labour , the turnover of which is huge
therefore ensuring that vital long term
relationships between support worker and client will remain a thing of the
past. The destruction of the morale of staff in any field leads to a reduction
in the quality of services provided, as we all know it is a plain fact of life.
Therefore these actions by demoralising staff have had and continue to have a detrimental impact on long term support
service quality, and therefore the long term quality of life for these innocent
folk. All denied by the highly paid LBB/YCB management team that rules the
roost over these services in Barnet some of whom on their £120k plus salaries,
and driven by the expenses hungry pocket
lining councillors, in their drive for cuts for everybody else but themselves. Yet another lie.
Not happy with that, these profit at any price people have taken away transport for many of
these innocent folk, which used to convey them to day centres where they could
congregate with their friends. It was their community hub, a place where they
were among equals and could be happy, a place where
they felt they belonged and felt valued.
Now many of them are dumped at home day after day with no community hub, no
friends to talk to, no company other than the television. All this sneaky
activity has been aimed at one intention, to close down any remaining day
centre provision in particular the Bils facility at Flightways Grahame Park,
under the dishonest claim that attendance has fallen making the facility no
longer viable. They are creating the circumstances that have led to the demise
of attendance to Bils, now they are using that lack of attendance to justify
the closure and avoid replacing a vital facility for many subsequent to
demolition.
Couple these issues together , none of which is in any way
shape or form for the benefit and improvement in the long term quality of life
of disabled people in Barnet, but a determination to make a profit no matter
the human cost. Then ask yourself what kind of a person is Brian Salinger who
has " no problem with making a profit " from these activities, which
includes the other scoundrels that
support these acts of evil. Who collectively supported the cover up of those same acts of evil
in the recent T&F whitewash of YCB services on 27th November , at the
farcically named "Safeguarding Committee " meeting.
What kind of people are they, that put profit before the
long term quality of life of the
disabled people of Barnet, as important what kind of self centred uncaring
people vote " these people" into power without a second thought in
most cases out of habit. Barnet is fast becoming a cesspit driven by the
mantra. " Feck you Jack I'm alright ".
Your Choice Barnet is a LIE it was conceived on a LIE that
was ignored, the long term quality of life and provision of support services
for these folk is premised on a business model that is a LIE, and it is the
long term future that is the most important issue for parents and family
carers. The business model this LATC was
launched on was a car crash, proclaimed by councillor Rajput and his puppets at
YCB as a success, probably one of the biggest Lies to date. He implies the
business model that YCB was launched on, deliberately planned to lose vast sums of money, and further
implies it was always the intention to have to borrow £1million from us the
taxpayers after the first failed year of trading, you have to ask yourself when
will the lies and implied lies end.
The only way these disabled folk can be guaranteed a long
term future is by bringing all YCB services back in house, which was the
promise made when this failed privatisation went ahead yet another LIE. The
current business model could only be guaranteed when launched earlier this year
for a period of six months, Troy Henshall a board member of YCB was asked how
long can you guarantee no change, and he replied no longer than six months, he
was further asked what happens if this business model fails, and he replied it
will not, he was then pressed but what
happens if it does fail, and he stated quite clearly " the services would
have to be taken back in house ".
Parents and family carers were sent invitations to "
informative meetings " and in the majority of cases were advised in the
invitation there would be " no change to the services ", so many
never bothered to attend. YCB & LBB councillors believe it is right and
proper to mislead these folk in this underhand way, how can you possibly claim
no change for six months is the same as no change, this is probably the sickest
most pernicious lie of all.
Rather than subjecting these disabled folk to the vagaries of the marketplace based
on a business model that is doomed to fail and is failing, a business model
that cannot be sustained without destroying the quality of life for disabled people.
I repeat once again all YCB services should be brought back in house now, in a
planned and calm way, and not await the failure of the second business plan and
all the problems that will bring. It will also deny the back door aims of LBB
councillors to hand responsibility for adult services to their friends at
Capita, which I firmly believe is their intention, to despicably wipe their
hands of all responsibility for disabled people as they have for the elderly.
It is one thing to contact a call centre in the north of
England where hundreds of local jobs have now been farmed out to if you have a
problem with your council tax or a planning query etc, but not when you are
dealing with vulnerable family members who might be at risk of harm. A classic
and horror story example of how this system does not work and the horror it
creates, was demonstrated at Winterbourne View not so long ago and more
recently at a residential facility in Devon.
But our councillors claim that "in house" is not possible
because we would lose too much money due to the direct payments legislation,
that does not allow service users to pay for services directly to local authorities.
If that were true I assume every local authority across the United Kingdom
would have to have created an LATC as is the case in Barnet. The fact is every
local authority across the United Kingdom has " NOT " created an LATC
, which suggest this claim is yet another LIE, for people who are more
concerned with profit than with the long term quality of life of vulnerable
people.
I have no doubt our local councillors will challenge every
word uttered by those opposing the failed privatisation of adult services, the
lie that is YCB, that they are choosing to prop up with lies obfuscation and
misinformation , folllowed by this whitewash of a Task & Finish group
enquiry, and will do their utmost to justify this pernicious inhumanity. But
the reality is the services were far better run prior to the formation of the
LATC , inspections recorded a high standard of care, and expenditure was kept
within the budget provided, an in-house
option comparator that was denied us, could
have made it even more financially
sustainable, and those are facts they cannot Lie there way out of.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Sullivan is a parent carer for his daughter Susan and a campaigner for disabled rights in Barnet. Guest blogs are always welcome at the Barnet Eye
No comments:
Post a Comment