The future assessment of carers and cared for by the Jersey Health Department.

Chris Dunn of Adult Services at the Health Department gave this talk to the Jersey Disability Partnership meeting on 16 January 2017.
It is presented here in 3 parts and explains the proposed new structure for the assessment of carers and the cared for.

It is separate from the assessment of care needs by the Social Security department for Income Support purposes but the speaker explained that the two systems ,may be combined in the future.

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

Sandra's New Flat!!!! Jersey Housing Department's seasonal joke in 4 parts...

Sandra  and her daughter have featured in several previous blog postings and even the JEP and other "accredited media" have reported on her housing and related problems.

The "black mould" of condensation was the most recent focus of attention but her difficulties are even more profound because Sandra has disabilities which require her to have specially adapted accommodation.
It's quite simple really. For example,  if you cannot open  windows  because they cannot be reached or are too stiff to operate - then good ventilation cannot be achieved and condensation results....

There is no point in blaming the tenant - the simple fact is that the flat is poorly designed for her specific needs - and after all, we all need to have windows that can be opened whether we are classed as "disabled" or otherwise....

Yet there are more specific design needs that follow from disability - such as grab handles in appropriate places - especially around toilets and baths - and there is a need for extra space to accommodate wheelchairs or other disability aids...and to use the toilet or bath or even to move around other rooms.

As we say now,  its not rocket science - but you would think that the Jersey Housing Department has never had to consider such matters before  because they have offered Sandra the key to the door of the flat as shown on the videos that follow...
The departmental staff seem to think that it's an improvement but in fact it offers worse accommodation than Sandra's current flat in Liberation Court (which is less than 20 years old).

As can be seen the latest flat is just simply not suitable for a person with her severe disabilities and as we have already told  Minister  Deputy Green many times before ( and he has personal knowledge of disability in his own family) - standard issue flats are just simply not suitable for this tenant or others with similar needs.

What is Sandra supposed to do with her (two) disability scooters - where can they be parked and charged from the electricity supply?
They are her legs after all so cannot be dispensed with at a whim....and they are very heavy and her daughter has already injured her back by trying to move them about ....and we have already complained to the Fire Department about the danger of parking these to block escape routes because there is nowhere else...

So  please look at these fours parts of our video and try to put yourself in Sandra's seat....

...and bear in mind that "Social Housing" is soon to be handed over to the private company called Andium from July and that Deputy Green the Housing Minister has already announced his intention to quit this office with his eyes on the Health Department - where the declared new policy is that people should care for themselves "in their own homes"...!

With Andium under the Chair of a UK resident receiving £40,000 for  his 30 hours annual attention to the problems of Sandra and thousands of others with real housing needs and the Health service already reeling from shortages and inadequacies and a similar planned "user pays" policy - the future looks ever more grim for those with specific needs and limited resources of their own....

And whilst we have your attention - why is Sandra's  18 years old daughter not treated as her carer and rewarded financially and given the appropriate support too...?

SILKWORTH deserves a better form of Scrutiny Hearing...

Special  Silkworth Scrutiny Hearing  10 August 2012

“Good communication is vital” were the mumbled, final faltering words from Health Minister Deputy Pryke (nee Quenault) at this morning’s special Scrutiny session.

Of course, even at the best of times, Deputy Pryke is not one of the world’s best speakers but when she speaks quietly from behind her fist the problem is much magnified.

At today’s Scrutiny meeting her deficiencies were even more apparent because the “hearing” (if you will excuse the word) took place in Church House which is an echoing bare room about 15 feet high where the acoustics are especially bad.

I had previously written to the Scrutiny clerk to request that a proper sound system be installed for this hearing with a loop for those using hearing aids. At a health meeting (of all meetings) these standards should be obligatory – whether a public meeting or otherwise. Of course my request was ignored. The 6 mics around the inward looking “top table” were only for the benefit of the recording system and the transcribers in New Zealand.

They were the usual window dressing so far as this “public” hearing was concerned..

My own post-meeting protest fell on “deaf” ears with Chair Deputy Moore (the ex- professional communicator from the “accredited media”). She had little sympathy.

“You can always read the transcript” being the limit of her interest in the problem.

Who needs the public anyway one might conclude? – WE are the government this is our show for OUR benefit seems to be the attitude.

How different from all those promises to want to serve the voting/paying public at election times!

This communicating day did not start well.

BBC Radio’s Matthew Price (the non-accredited” journo) had evidently swallowed a Communications Unit  Diversion Press Release about the latest government plans for “Roseneath” and how this was now going to be used to accommodate all sorts of deserving people in a partnership deal with Sanctuary Trust.

It was a blatant disinformation exercise and the fate of 350 homeless people was trotted out as though anybody in government really gives a damn for their welfare.

Preacher Price’s husband also kept telling us, of a plan in Guernsey whereby householders are to be invited to offer rooms to homeless young people in that Island (aka the sister feudal Bailiwick).What a super charitable and |Christian idea!

But of course, the simple fact is that neither Island has a legal obligation to house any residents or to care for them if they fall ill.

(After I responded to his request to phone in with comments just a few of my much clipped words on this aspect were read out). 

In the UK and most other civilised places, governments accept such things as a legal right. They might not offer comprehensive solutions to all such problems – but they do not shirk their responsibilities as this bunch does. They do try and they also enter into Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that are binding over several years so that providers of “essential” services such as Silkworth can plan their futures rather then being kept dangling on a very thin thread of “promises”

The BBC themed government propaganda today was clearly designed to deflect attention away from the substance of the Scrutiny hearing. This had been called following the Silkworth Trust’s recent startling revelelations of a failing relationship with the Health Department and some very murky dealings by Health, Treasury and Property Services to wind up the Nemo Charity and take the Roseneath properties back into the States property portfolio. The aim to reduce financial contributions to several important charities (or Third Sector Providers as they tend to call them) was clearly too “Jersey image” damaging.

The failing pretence that this was all in some way to the benefit of the public had to be repaired!!

Naturally, the hidden hand of Senator Ozouf was everywhere apparent.

This was evidently just another aspect of his SAVE money CSR plan.

10% reduction or else and never mind who it hurts! So start with the most deserving and most vulnerable and if anything is still moving in the undergrowth of society - give them another burst of austerity and inflict some more PAIN!

It was especially sad to hear Deputy Green the Housing Minister ( who has gone so shy in front of my video camera) suggesting that the revamped Roseneath might do anything to house all or any of the under 25’s who do not qualify for “social housing” under the current absurd rules.

His promised White Paper will inevitably be about as much good as Health’s own “Caring for Each Other Caring for Ourselves” proposals which are visibly unwinding before our very eyes and ears, the more we learn about such worked examples as “Silkworth” etc.

Neither Deputy Green nor Pryke will be awarded enough money by Treasury to do a fraction of the things that are “talked” of around these Green and White Papers.

With rooms for 30 residents at most, the Rosemount property will hardly touch the needs of any one section of our needy society. The prospect of it as yet another building accommodating a random mix of all ages with all sorts of illnesses and issues must be a guaranteed formula for yet more and diverse problems in the future.

Laughably, the question was put whether Silkworth’s empty beds might be used for other purposes too - since Health does not seem to have any proper mechanism to refer clients for the 6 beds actually contracted for under the SLA.

Obviously, the nature of the specialist treatment undertaken at Silkworth was generally not understood here today. It appeared to be viewed as just another filing cabinet opportunity to hide so many of Jersey’s human problems.  Out of sight out of mind - although Deputy Pryke claimed that it provided a “very important service” when asked. But her solution to almost everything was “to discuss it around the table.”

Inevitably, neither the management from Silkworth nor others in the public seats were allowed to utter a squeak today. How absurd this is. So many half answered questions could have been clarified and possible deceits challenged, there and then.

But this is just a symptom of the bureaucratic malaise. It is ever more obvious that so many in senior positions do little more than attending endless discussions and “consultations” dreaming up catchphrases and novel names to describe projects that will never be financed or realised.

As always, Deputy Pryke turned up for this hearing with 6 minders including Constable Refault but they mostly mumbled their names at the outset and it is impossible to identify all of them here.

What a pity they cannot all be referred to Silkworth to occupy the empty beds for a 3 months learning and re-training exercise!

Chair of this Scrutiny Panel Deputy Moore was assisted by Deputy Hilton who both talked very quietly and apologised for the non-appearance of Deputy Reed.

The Panel’s “adviser” did not audibly speak and was presumed to have died in his seat until the meeting ended and he rose to leave.

So, yet another totally unsatisfactory hearing in this year’s scrutiny season

with no gold medals to be won by either the Scrutineers or the Health department.

There were too many issues raised today to be dealt with adequately here.

I hope that “Silkworth” might now respond publicly in some way to correct any defects on the public record but I feel sure they would rather get on with the job of saving the lives of so many people.

Perhaps Ronnie Allan might still be alive to day (see previous blogs on this site) if Deputy Pryke and her “Health” team had paid more attention to his needs and had not spent so much time talking and posturing amongst themselves whilst resisting those who offered to give genuine help…

…but have they even learned anything from his tragic death “in care”?

Answers on a ballot card please.

What is a Silkworth Charity worth in Jersey....?

The link between government and charities in Jersey is becoming ever more complex and worrying.

We all know what happened to CHRISTIAN AID when it spoke out against some aspects of the Finance industry  (see the blog here on 25 April) yet we also know that Honorary Service is supposed to be at the very foundation of Jersey society.

On the one hand we have people being apparently demonised for doing charitable works whilst at the other end they are applauded and honoured with medals.

So just what has gone wrong with Silkworth Lodge Charity Group and its relationship with Jersey Government?

Nobody seems to know.

Here we offer an interview with Jason Wyse the COE of Silkworth who was previously employed in the Finance Industry. He is mystified too.

Likewise, it is puzzling that “Roseneath” – another Charitable and residential facility – was closed down just before Xmas last year with all staff and up to 30 residents being expelled at remarkably short notice.

Once again the axe fell when the Health Department removed its funding and the charity had to return funds already donated by a local bank.

Silkworth too has had to return funds given by the same and another bank for the creation of an in-house “detox unit.”

Clearly Silkworth cannot carry on with its good and essential works without an assured income so such actions by the Jersey government are doubly confusing and frustrating.

Ironically too, the Silkworth management had expressed an interest in taking over the Roseneath premises soon after they closed last year and had entered into discussions with the Health Department.

Yet it now seems that a Ministerial Decision was made by the Treasury months ago to secure Roseneath under States control, through the Health Department and its acquisition by Property Services was completed long ago, with an agreed payment of £100,000 of public money!

Something very fishy going on we think - but look at Silkworth’s own web-site for more details of their work and try to make some sense of all this

http://www.silkworthlodge.co.uk./

Notably, our 51 Elected States’ Representatives are keeping remarkably silent except for Constable Dan Murphy from Grouville who is a Trustee of Silkworth and hopping mad.

So what does this say about Electoral Reform proposals to put the Constables out to grass????

We have tried to contact Deputy Roy Le Herissier (he sat on the board at Roseneath a

and is quoted in the JEP as welcoming the Health/Property Services deal) – but he is away from Jersey on holiday…

Would any other States Member be prepared to give us an interview on this strange and very worrying matter? 

NO CHARITY FOR THE JERSEY THIRD SECTOR

SILKWORTH LODGE CHARITY at Scrutiny

Scrutiny has been rumbling along for the past few weeks looking at the Health and Housing White Papers and the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP).

The same Ministers and their teams of officers have been appearing more often than a number 18 bus as witnesses to explain their proposed policies.

Tomorrow (Wednesday 1 August) Sen Ozouf will be in the hot seat again to justify his MTFP before the Corporate Services Panel (3pm) and he will be followed by CM Gorst (4.30pm).

Same old PR stuff again I expect. Everything is wonderful. Times are tough but Jersey is still the leading Finance Centre in the world and our economy is as sound as a bell…

Yesterday however there was an extraordinary and different account from witnesses before the Health, Social Security and Housing Panel. The Panel consisted of just Deputies Hilton and Reed (with an adviser who mumbles his name). The witnesses were Frank Laine and Jason Wyse from the Silkworth Lodge Charity Group and they delivered a startling and shocking criticism of Health Department policies and behaviour.

Constable Murphy of Grouville sat in the public seats as an observer and Trustee of the Charity.

To say that the whole room was shocked by their account is no exaggeration.

Silkworth has been delivering an essential re-habillitation service in Jersey for alcoholics and drug users for decades.

Such is their level of expertise at Silkworth that many clients are referred to them from outside Jersey. In fact Guernsey sends more than any other agency and UK regulators say that Silkworth would be in the top three of similar establishments if it was on the mainland.

Silkworth in Jersey claims never to turn anybody away who needs help but its 12 bed spaces are costed-out at up to £2,000 each per week – although six are offered locally at £600 - and this unique service is an essential facility in this Island where alcohol and drug abuse is such a seriously destructive problem.

The “Priory” in England charges £5,000 they explained, so Silkworth is providing a top-notch service at a very reasonable cost.

Thousands of people have benefited from the work at Silkworth over the years – not just those directly treated because as the witnesses explained, the tentacles of destruction affect so many relatives and friends of those who receive treatment.

Yet the Health Department has pulled the financial bung. The Service Level Agreement appears to have been arbitrarily cancelled and no more clients have been referred to Silkworth this year by the Health Department or its agencies.

As the witnesses explained, Silkworth had actually been paid the final payment of £200,000 of public money but no more clients have been sent and as they said - any other charity would be afraid to declare this in public because it would be damaging to the relationship with government.

That was the most frightening thing because the witnesses were not just complaining about the failure of the Health Department to communicate or negotiate with them – they were also expressing disgust that the whole Jersey charitable sector was in danger of being sucked into government control. A large part of the third sector is in a state of anxiety about what is going in, with threats of withdrawal of SLAs or contracts between government and charitable providers.

And they spoke too about “Roseneath”, the Charitable home closed down before last Xmas after Health had pulled out the financial rug.

The witnesses had attempted to secure Roseneath after the failure to join with Silkworth but in spite of negotiations and meetings with Health Department officers had only just this week, read in the local media, that Health had trumped them and secured it for itself.

The irony is of course that the Health White Paper declares that it – the Health Department - will provide alcohol and drug treatment in Jersey as part of the whole new package of care in the community etc.

But who, asked the witnesses, is actually going to provide this treatment, if Silkworth does not?

We hope to return with a video report on this matter shortly….