Equal Access to Services

I note from a recent issue of Local Government FIRST magazine ("Close Lap Dance Loophole - LGA", Issue 377) some concern at a change in licensing legislation around the regulation of lap dancing clubs.

It seems lap dancing clubs can now be licensed using the same guidelines as karaoke bars and cafes, rather than using the legislation covering the sex trade. Worryingly, the number of lap dancing clubs has doubled in the last four years alone.

It reminded me of a story I heard a while ago, about a massage parlour which began trading overnight from a private property in a residential road. Neighbours protested vigorously, and the business - which had not applied for planning permission - was asked to lodge a retrospective request for planning consent with their local Liberal Democrat controlled council.

At the subsequent planning hearing, the application was debated in depth and the Liberal Democrats won the day - allowing the massage parlour to remain, on one condition - that they put in a disabled ramp from the street.

Good to know that our Liberal Democrat colleagues are fighting for equal access to services...

Roger Gale - a dedicated and hardworking MP

Dashed back from Margate to County Hall to meet with Roger Gale, Member of Parliament for North Thanet. I've met with Roger several times over the last few months - usually over social care issues. I don't always agree with him, but no one can doubt his passion, and I'm often told what a dedicated and hardworking constituency MP he is.

We spent an hour and a half discussing social care issues, both locally and nationally. Roger was particularly concerned about the modernisation of learning disability day services in Canterbury and Thanet, and I was able to detail our plans for the future.

I explained my visit to the Margate Drop In, and that I was concerned about some of the Labour Government's regulation and legislation as it related to those with disabilities. I'm concerned that when 'housing' is offered to disabled people, it's sometimes in quite unsuitable neighbourhoods. When disabled people manage to find employment, their benefits are often reduced or stopped completely if they work any more than a token number of hours.

This really isn't the way to achieve the kind of change we all know is needed, and I intend to work up some detailed proposals for change in due course. I hope Roger and other Parliamentary colleagues will lend their support to lobby the Government for change.

It's so obviously overdue.

Photo taken from Roger Gale's page on www.conservatives.com

Dartford, Swanley and Gravesham - a brave new world

Yesterday morning, I met with officers from Kent Adult Social Services, and County Councillors Christine Angell (Lab - Dartford), Maureen Newell (Lab - Gravesham) and Mark Fittock (Lab - Swanley).

I wanted my colleagues to see for themselves the services we were putting in place to replace the Queen Elizabeth Resource Centre in Dartford. We're decommissioning the existing day centre service from October, and officers are busy making sure that services are replaced in the communities of Dartford, Swanley and Gravesham.

It was invaluable to walk round the various day centres, community buildings and leisure centre with Christine - being hearing impaired herself, she has an eagle eye for disability access. A tough critic, she pointed out narrow doorways, steep ramps, too-small disabled toilets, lack of hearing loops and a range of other issues - all of which we put on the list for attention.

Of course there's always a huge amount of apprehension when services move from one location to another, and a deep-seated suspicion from service users that somehow we're "only doing this to save money" - that their new facilities either won't exist or won't be as good.

But as we move into the brave new world of personalised and community-based services, I can honestly say the new services in Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley will provide more choice, better locations and closer to home for hundreds of people, young and old with disabilities.

A long and productive working relationship

A really useful meeting this morning. I travelled up to London for a meeting at the Mencap head office in the Barbican with Dame Jo Williams, the Chief Executive, and Heather Honour the Campaign and Policy Manager, and Director of the Learning Disability Coalition.

Dame Jo and I had been keynote speakers a few weeks ago at an event at the St Stephen's Club on the future of learning disability services, and found that we had very similar views. We agreed to meet up to discuss points of common interest.

Our time together was really productive, and I agreed to share two Select Committee reports commissioned by Kent Adult Social Services - one on Transition and the other on Learning Disabilities. I also agreed that our policy officers would work together with Mencap to work up proposals to Government as to how Social Services, Health and partners such as Mencap could better work together to provide more appropriate services in line with the personalisation agenda which we all agree should be the way forward.

I sense that today was the start of a long and productive working relationship. For the sake of thousands of learning disabled service users, let's hope so.

Vocation? For some, but clearly not for all.

On a visit to a respite care unit this afternoon, I was introduced to a chap who was clearly much younger than the others. He'd been there for seven weeks, he thought, and began to tell me his story. He'd been a scaffolder, until two years ago when his career had been ended by a stroke which left him paralysed on his left side. He was duly admitted to the Stroke Rehabilitation Unit at Sevenoaks Hospital.

One night, he'd wanted to use the toilet and pressed the emergency call button. The nurse took a while to come, by which time he's messed the bed. This happened twice, at which point one of his nurses "turned against him", and among other hateful taunts, had told him "of course, you'll never walk again."

Well, two years later, and he's been coming to our KCC unit regularly to give his wife and son a break. Whilst there, he's been working with the physiotherapist, and - at last - he can now walk along parallel bars, and last night, walked from the dining room round to his room aided by a four footed walking stick.

I was struck by the courage, spirit and sheer pluck. He admitted he could be "a bit grumpy", and that it took a while to get over the humiliation of being changed and bathed by staff, but full of praise and admiration for the care staff.

And - clearly a far better man than I - bore no malice against the nurse who got into his head and gave him so little hope.

Vocation? For some, but clearly not for all.

TN2 Community Trust - one year on and getting better every day

I went along to the Annual General Meeting of the TN2 Trust this evening. TN2, you may remember, is the community trust we set up to run the new community centre on Greggs Wood Road. It doesn't seem like a year since we opened the doors of the new building and let local residents take over.

Sadly, the outgoing Chairman, Zoe Jangaard couldn't be there as she's off with a bug at the moment, but Vice Chairman John Beadle read a report in her place. It talked about the extra numbers of people using the centre, the additional groups with which TN2 are working - the FRED Club and Four Walls, both working with disability groups. The new Toddler and Co group for mums, dads and child minders. The football teams who play in the sports hall on Tuesdays and Fridays. The Tea Time Club and the Leisure Group.

Above all, this was a story of local people. People who worked hard and learned new skills. And above all, people who persevere, day after day, to give their community better than it used to have. I congratulate the incoming Chairman, Lynne Weatherley - she's immensely talented and has a tough job ahead as the TN2 Centre takes the next leap towards self-sufficiency.

And - although not mentioned this evening - thanks should go also to Nazeya Hussein and Estelle Grant from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council who have worked really hard to support the residents in this brave new venture.

TN2 Community Trust - one year on and getting better every day.

A partnership win for Sherwood

This morning, I joined Greg Clark MP, local Borough Councillor Ted Jolley and several Sherwood residents at the TN2 Community Centre, to meet with Chief Executive of Arriva South East Heath Williams and General Manager Brian O'Kane.

The purpose of the meeting was to air and resolve some of the long-standing issues over bus services in and around the Sherwood area. Sunday buses, routing patterns, timetabling, accessibility - all were discussed this morning.

Residents' concerns were that bus services no longer ran to Knights Park; that available bus stops for some elderly residents were simply too far from where they lived; and that since local services were re-routed some years ago, there was no bus access to the Medical Centre, the chemist, the TN2 Centre or the local shops - all on Greggs Wood Road. Some residents are having to pay £8 for a taxi to drive them the short distance to their doctor's appointment - clearly a nonsense when buses run just yards away.

The meeting was positive and productive, and Arriva were certainly in listening mode. For KCC's part, I undertook to look into several issues which made Arriva's job a little more difficult. In the spirit of the recently-signed Quality Bus Partnership between Arriva, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and Kent County Council, I agreed to try to resolve these issues for the benefit of all.

The good news was the announcement by Arriva that they have ordered three brand new buses for the 277 route, each with dropped access suitable for elderly and disabled passengers. Each bus costs £90,000, and this investment of £270,000 is made that much easier by the fact that Greggs Wood Road will soon be resurfaced and therefore safer for the new buses to travel down.

It was a really useful meeting, and I'm grateful to Greg Clark for organising it. If we all play our part, once again we can deliver a partnership win for Sherwood.

Just another talking shop?

What a fascinating morning! I was at St Stephen's Club in Westminster on Thursday attending a 'Chatham House' roundtable on the future of specialist care for adults with learning disabilities.

The event, chaired by David Brindle from The Guardian, was attended by professionals from the Department for Health, Commission for Social Care Inspection, the Valuing People Support Team, IDeA, and the Institute for Public Policy Research, along with several other care organisations and charities.

It began with keynote presentations from Dame Jo Williams, Chief Executive of Mencap, and myself, along with a provider viewpoint from Bob Lewis of the Care Management Group, and then a two hour discussion on a way forward.

Overwhelmingly, the message was clear. We need to raise the awareness of Learning Disabilities; we need Government to be clear in their expectations - and harder still, to stick to them long enough for us to deliver. We need to accept that there's no 'silver bullet' quick answer, and although we can make efficiencies in our own organisations, this of itself isn't enough to balance our collective books.

As I said in my presentation, I hope this morning wasn't just another talking shop, and that we'll see some real actions and outcomes as a result of our morning together.

A night with the angels

I was at the Marriott Tudor Park Hotel this evening, for the Kent Adult Social Services Quality Service Awards.

These awards are run every year to honour the staff who, nominated by their colleagues and clients, really "go the extra mile".

Radio Kent's Pat Marsh compered the evening, while Managing Director Oliver Mills and I had the easy job of presenting awards and posing for photographs.

Inevitably, the stories which led to each nomination were amazing, tear-jerking, inspiring and humbling.

Ordinary people performing extraordinary acts. Going the extra mile for the good of those they care for. Away from their job, these special people are also often going home to care for others - parents, brothers, sisters, and so on.

As it turned out, the event ran on and I was not asked to deliver the speech I'd prepared for. But I wasn't upset. It wasn't my evening. It belonged to those very special people without whom tomorrow would be a little less bearable for thousands of frail, elderly and vulnerable Kent residents.

Democracy came second after politics.

At the end of the KCC Cabinet agenda yesterday, those Cabinet Members who had appeared before the last meeting of Cabinet Scrutiny were asked to confirm that they had set in place actions to comply with the recommendations of the committee.

For me, it was an opportunity to reflect on over two hours spent questioning KCC's decision to recommission the day centre service at Queen Elizabeth Resource Centre in Dartford. Various postings to this blog have outlined the protests, media coverage, petitions and general concern about this decision, yet still the Labour-led Cabinet Scrutiny committee saw fit to invite two vulnerable wheelchair-bound users of the service, with no rest break, toilet break or any thought for medication times, to sit for over two hours at the table giving evidence.

Both Liberal Democrat and Labour spokesmen were invited to stand and read prepared statements which neither furthered the debate nor uncovered new evidence. And when the Managing Director of Kent Adult Social Services asked to correct the biased and misinformed statements, he was denied the opportunity.

And after all that, the committee recommended that we undertake the same degree of public consultation whether we commission a service or whether KCC owns that service. So when, last month, a national care home provider went out of business - calling us on the 16th to tell us to have all our clients out of their homes by the 20th - we should have refused and begun a six-month public consultation? When we received complaints from staff, users and carers about a day care facility, we should have 'put them on hold' for twelve weeks while we sought public opinion?

No. We will react with the same speed and compassion that we always have, because that's what social care is about. Not bureaucracy. Not box-ticking. And not posturing and political grandstanding while real life problems get put on the back burner.

I was pleased to have been asked to comment on my recent "brush with scrutiny". And a little more pleased to be able to shed some light on a biased meeting where democracy came second after politics.

Without a separate agenda

Last week, I was called to appear before the KCC Cabinet Scrutiny Committee with the Managing Director of Kent Adult Social Services, Oliver Mills http://www.kent.ukcouncil.net/site/player/pl_compact.php?a=11772&t=&m=wm&l=en_GB#the_data_area. We appear from time to time to account for decisions made in the delivery of social care. This cross party committee usually provides a healthy challenge and a trasparent way to open up the democratic process.

We had been called to explain our decision to decommission the Queen Elizabeth Resource Centre in Dartford, which provides a day service to adults with physical disabilities. Over the last few weeks, the issue has appeared on television, radio and in local press on numerous occasions, and I agree more than anyone that we need to make sure we get this right, for the sake of the service users themselves.

But there was an uneasy feeling of politics at last week's meeting. The Committee called as witnesses two disabled service users, and throughout over two hours of questioning, one leading question followed another. One opposition Councillor stood up to "read a prepared statement" which was little short of a political press release.

I felt saddened by the lack of quality and rigour in a process for which, over the years, I have come to have great respect. The final act was to ask another opposition Councillor, who did not even sit on the Committee, to stand and deliver a tirade of accusations and half truths. When my officer colleague tried to respond, he was denied.

After the meeting was terminated by a power cut, I spent an hour discussing the issues over a coffee with the two disabled service users who appeared as witnesses. And guess what? In many ways, they felt as let down by the process as I did, and we achieved more from a coffee and a chat than through two hours of "open democracy".

There's a legal maxim which goes something like "He who comes to enmity shall have clean hands". In other words, if we're going to challenge and question, do it without a separate agenda.

Shameful in the extreme

Yesterday, there was a substantial protest outside County Hall by users of the Queen Elizabeth Foundation Resource Centre, a day centre for adults with physical disabilities in Dartford. I have instigated a consultation to replace the "bricks and mortar" services provided there, with more community-based services in line with both Government and County Council thinking.

But change is often - and understandably - viewed with suspicion, and officers from Kent Adult Social services are working slowly and steadily with service users to assess their needs and help them create individual, personalised packages of care that will better serve their needs. BBC South East ran a story on the protest at lunchtime and the evening news bulletins. In it, local Labour County and Borough Councillors were joining in the protest, rightly standing up for their local constituents.

However, what irked me most was that Liberal Democrats - none of whom speak for this area - had induced the disabled users to hold a banner proclaiming "Kent Lib Dems - Standing up for Disability Rights".

I hope the "Councillors" in question can live with their consciences - hijacking a legitimate protest as a party political publicity stunt is going way beyond the boundary of acceptable political behaviour, and is shameful in the extreme.

photo courtesy of Kent Liberal Democrat website - read their version of the story at http://kentlibdems.org.uk/news/000212/elderly_people_to_pay_more_disabled_people_to_lose_their_centre.html

How very, very sad

If you've ever watched the movie "The Matrix", yesterday felt very similar for me, as I left home just before 7am and sped across Kent to be in Canterbury an hour later. I was due to be interviewed live on Radio Kent, at exactly 8.20 by telephone from the boardroom at Kent Business School on the University campus. The phone would ring precisely two minutes before the interview, and if I wasn't there to pick up, listeners across Kent would know I was late!

The fog was atrocious, as I travelled across the county to Maidstone, up Detling Hill, then down the A2 towards Canterbury. I turned off onto the Canterbury road at five to nine, and got to the edge of the university campus at five past. I broke into a sweat as I turned into the car park, and was duly greeted by someone from Kent Business School, who showed me into the boardroom. Just time to scribble the three or four main points I needed to make, and the phone rang. "Morning Kevin, John will be with you in a moment" said the producer, leaving me to listen to the show over the phone until John Warnett announced the proposed closure of the Canterbury Day Opportunities Centre.

I was quite content that I'd put across all the points I needed to, and that John has given me a fair hearing. Of more surprise when I got home last night at around 11.30pm and checked my emails was a particularly biased, spiteful, personally insulting message referring to the interview.

Was the writer affronted by our plans to close the Day Centre? Were they morally assaulted at our treatment of adults with disablities?

No. They were aggrieved that my vision of choice, freedom and opportunity for disabled people seemed to be along similar lines to that of the Labour government, and that this might cost Conservative votes at the next election. How very, very sad.

A Sobering Thought

On Sunday evening, I received an email from a young man who has cerebral palsy, is profoundly deaf and non-speaking, and lives life in a wheelchair. He lives alone, and manages on on income support and disability benefit. Although he would have liked to complete his education, he told me that it was considered too expensive for him to do this. He needs a lot of expensive electrical equipment to support him, much of which relies on recharging batteries regularly.

In order to make ends meet, he had decided to turn off the heating in his flat during the daytime. Using the government's Direct Payments scheme, he employs a Personal Assistant. His main concern was that in order to keep warm, his assistant needed to keep her coat on for warmth while she was in his flat. He was concerned that because of this, as her employer he was actually breaking Health and Safety rules.

As I said at Monday's Cabinet meeting, what kind of a society can we be that this chap is forced to exist like this? Can we truly call ourselves 'civilised society'.

An employer of excellence

Travelled early this morning up to Waitrose at Biggin Hill to present an award to David Patrickson, the Manager of the store.

He had given a job some months ago to a young man with a learning disability. Now sitting in the cafeteria with an early morning coffee, I found it hard to detect any disability in the bright, engaging, enthusiastic young chap sitting opposite me.

The most encouraging aspect was that it seemed the entire staff were supportive of this initiative - they all helped with training and support. In return they had an energetic, personable young man with a passion for his store, his products and his customers.

If only all retailers were like this...

A Different View

What an interesting day! I've just spent today being "shadowed" around County Hall by Phillip. A bright, personable and enthusiastic young man, he also has a degree in German. Phillip is also blind.

His placement was one of twelve similar "job shadowing" opportunities organised this week throughout Kent County Council, with the aim of encouraging people with a disability to consider a career in local government in general, and Kent County Council in particular.

Our day started at 8.30am, and a half hour chat to establish what each of us wanted to get from our day together. Then, at 9am my meetings started - an hour long interview with an external inspection team looking at KCC's Public Health work. Then an agenda briefing for the Adult Social Services Policy Overview Committee, lunch with a our Finance Cabinet Member, a quick meeting with our Corporate Communications team, a Social Care briefing to a cross-party member group, and so on.

Through it all, Phillip was good-humoured even in the boring bits; he was patient when we spoke in acronyms and jargon; he listened to our debate and took in the facts, and when asked for comment, had clearly thought carefully about everything that was going on. Personally, I found him to be excellent company and was sad when at 4pm we had to say goodbye.

I asked to host a placement because - as KCC's Champion for Equality and Diversity - I feel it's important to understand the point of view of others. But through Phillip's sight impairment, I understood just how atrocious our buildings are for getting around if you have a disability. I saw how we all need to think about how we debate and discuss our affairs, because we don't try hard enough to make our debates understandable. And I realised that if County Councillors don't make an effort to "demystify" the issues, we can't complain when our constituents tell us they don't understand what we're doing.

Thanks Phillip - I hope we can keep in touch.