Care services under threat in Haringey

Care services for the elderly could disappear, photo by Chris Marchant (Creative Commons) (Click to enlarge)

John Dolan, Haringey Council care worker

The privatised adult care service in Haringey, north London, replaced the public service when the council cut it. Now the private service also faces closure.

In an earlier round of austerity cuts under the Con-Dem government, Haringey Council in north London closed its council-run respite service for adults with learning disabilities.

They instead relied on the private sector to provide this service, but a recent experience has illustrated once again that private provision doesn't meet caring needs.

Look Ahead Care and Support ran Haringey respite services after the closure of Haringey Council's provision and also provided a supported living service and outreach services.

At the end of December 2015 Look Ahead wrote to the families of service users stating:

"Services have consistently been operating at a large deficit for the organisation, which is no longer sustainable. We can no longer continue to deliver these services and continue to sustain the financial losses. We have to inform you that Look Ahead Care and Support have sadly needed to serve notice on the contract and we will cease to operate the support provision on all the Haringey services from the 12 January 2016."

Guarantee

This shows that the only way to guarantee proper care provision for vulnerable people is through a publicly managed, publicly funded service based on needs not ability to pay.

Haringey's Labour-run council should once again provide these services that the private sector has walked away from because 'they are unprofitable'.

Haringey Council should also halt their current widespread privatisation plans, to prove in practice that the Labour Party is now an anti-austerity party.

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