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Vulnerable hit again
• ISLINGTON'S councillors are the highest paid in the country and the new chief executive will be paid well over £3,000 a week.
And yet the council has deprived a day centre of its minibus with the excuse that it’s a “waste of taxpayers’ money” (Stuck at home, the fate of 92-year-old still full of life, May 16).
This means that those who needed the transport to get to the centre will now be housebound.
This is the latest of a long list of cuts that have been inflicted upon the most vulnerable.
This penny-pinching action shows that these highly-paid so-called “representatives of the people” have no conscience.
R Wagland
Brecknock Road, N19
• YOUR article highlighted the importance of people like Hilda being able to take advantage of some of the excellent day centres available to the older generation in Islington.
It’s great that people are living fuller lives for longer, and this means that it’s more important than ever before that we deliver services to older people in the most efficient way possible.
We decided to reduce the number of minibuses going to Drovers and Sotheby Mews day centres quite simply because they were being under-used. Most people would agree that it’s a waste to have two buses driving around half empty.
However, we certainly didn’t intend for the reduction to have a negative effect on the people who use this service – which it clearly has – so I will ensure this is put right.
I have already been in contact with Age Concern personally, as have council officers. Age Concern will work with us so we can establish whether these are teething problems; if alternative arrangements need to be made for some users; or if it is necessary to reinstate the second bus.
This review will be conducted urgently and is expected to be complete in the next three weeks.
I hope this helps to assure readers that, while we want our services to be efficient, we don’t want vulnerable service users to pay the price. We will make sufficient arrangements to ensure users can take full advantage of the facilities on offer at both day centres.
Cllr John Gilbert
Lib Dem executive member for health and adult social care
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