The Health and Social Security Panel has released the findings and recommendations for its review into adult respite care in the Island.
The report found there was a lack of adult respite facilities – places where Islanders with severe mental or physical disabilities could stay to give their carers a break – and that plans to change an existing children’s respite centre into a facility for people aged 14-21 were a ‘quick fix’ which would only reduce the respite beds available to younger children.
It also found that the States had failed to act on a previous Scrutiny review three years ago which raised similar concerns.
Panel chairman Deputy Richard Renouf said that staff providing children’s and adult’s respite services were dedicated, caring workers, but that it was often infrastructure and funding that were the problem.
He explained that the ageing Le Geyt daytime respite centre was no longer fit for purpose.
The report revealed that the States respite service had 11 beds for children and five for adults, with the number of beds for older individuals due to reduce by one at the end of this month .
‘That takes some beds away from the children’s service and then just pushes on the problem.’
While there was scope for brief respite breaks, Deputy Renouf said, carers were not able to have significant time off.
And he said the Island was under-equipped when it came to emergency situations for respite care.
The report also recommended that more information about Islanders’ disabilities and care needed to be collected and centralised to allow services to plan for the future and understand the level of disability in Jersey.
However, the panel’s investigation revealed that the same conclusion had been reached by the previous Health and Social Security Panel in 2012.
Deputy Renouf said it was disappointing that more work had not been done in the last three years.
The report also highlighted, as it had done in 2012, that families of disabled Islanders faced a ‘variable’ and sometimes confusing transition process when their children reached the age of 18 and became adults.
When asked where he would like to see respite services a year from now, Deputy Renouf said: ‘We would like the Le Geyt Centre to be developed and firm plans to be in place for its future in terms of staffing and funding.
‘We would like for the transition experience to be better, hopefully with the two new positions that Health are requesting.
‘When it comes to adult residential respite beds let’s hope that Health can work things through if it emerges that what has been proposed is too narrow a provision and that they can provide somewhere else for adult respite care.’
The other panel members are Deputies Geoff Southern, Terry McDonald and Jackie Hilton.
SCORES of Jersey families act as primary carers for relatives with disabilities or complex health needs.
Today, the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel has published a review of adult respite services revealing that they are in short supply.
Sadly, the most vulnerable can be hit when governments tighten their purse strings, and the knock-on effect of cuts can affect many.
This latest Scrutiny review is a timely reminder of the scope and gravity of the questions that face care providers in an Island that is counting its pennies.
