'Compromise' to keep Peterborough's Dementia Resource Centre open shows that the council cares, says cabinet member

Peterborough City Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults and Health, Cllr Shabina Qayyum has said that plans that would see the city’s Dementia Resource Centre’s budget cut in half- but with the centre remaining open- shows how much the council cares.

Cllr Qayyum, who assumed the role following the local elections in May, has said that officers were informed that there would be no budget at all for the city’s Dementia Resource Centre but that council officers have fought for the budget to be increased.

Service users were told last week that the centre, on York Road- which provides support for people with dementia and their families- would see a 51% cut in its budget from September.

The centre previously operated on an annual budget of £279,000 but this will be reduced to £137,000; which the Alzheimer's Society, which runs the centre with council funding, already stating that this will lead to staff cuts.

The building will also be sold off in 2025 but the centre has leave to remain until March by which time the council has promised a replacement will be ready.

Cllr Qayyum met with service users on Tuesday (July 9) at the centre to talk through the council’s decision and told them that she wants its users, their families and the services they rely on to be her number one priority.

The Peterborough Telegraph was present at the meeting as Cllr Qayyum answered questions from users. Her answers to questions put to her by service users and the Peterborough Telegraph were as follows:

Cllr Qayyum’s priorities

"I want to be a cabinet member that is in touch with families and carers. It is incredibly important to me and I want to keep them close and be fully involved when the new centre is up and running and I will most certainly come and join them in those sessions such as the singing groups.

“Each and every individual I have spoken to, I remember their first name and I will carry on advocating for this service to remain.

“Peterborough families, carers and the services that they have benefitted from are my priority. They are close to my heart on this. I want to put compassion at the heart of everything and I’m going to be fully involved going forward.

“It has been difficult to cut the service but we have kept it as being one of two in the country. The only other is in Aberdeen.”

Why does it need to be cut?

“The decision was made before the Labour group came into administration. Adult social care gets its own funding from the central government’s Department of Health and Social Care that is allocated to us and we can’t channel money from elsewhere to fill the shortfall.

“There is a shortfall because of the year-on-year increase in the demand for adult social care, coupled with trying to negotiate a £6.4m deficit as a council.

“Shelving the service completely would have helped from a financial point of view but we care about how this service has helped people in the city so we aren’t going to scrap it.

“Scrapping it would also increase the burden on the NHS and us as a local authority. Officers have incredibly worked hard to compromise on funding but also make sure we have a viable service.”

Will there be job cuts?

It does seem apparent that the Alzheimer’s Society will have to compromise on staff but some of those staff were working for the ‘Well Wait’ service which we are hoping to be able to channel into other areas of the organisation. That is for them to decide though; regrettably, I can’t comment anymore on that.”

What were the initial proposals for the service?

“The adult social care department was told that there was going to have to be a complete cut to this service and it is the leads in commissioning that have gone back and said, actually this is a critical service and will impact us more in the future.

“The officers have looked around and asked, how can we still make this viable? I’m very proud of them for coming up with an alternative solution; a compromised one but one that still concentrates on carers and service users.

“We are keeping the service. It is definitely not a repeat of the Hydrotherapy pool saga. It is a compromise, we have to have honest conversations but they are on the back of those who are in charge still wanting to make decisions recognising the positive impact of the service on so many in the city. We are considering people, that is the greatest difference.”

What about the new centre?

“When we establish where the new provision is going to be, I would like service users to have an induction period; appreciating that adapting to change can be difficult for people with dementia and their carers.

“I would like us to have an induction period where we can move people across, make them familiar and allow them to get used to the new location and we can request the Alzheimer’s Society to carry out a consultation with the users to see which of the services they provide have been most useful so we can emphasise them in the new remodelled service.

"The council can not say yet the location of the new centre but it is locked in and the service will remain.”

Cllr Qayyum has said that she is happy to be contacted by anyone who uses the centre and has concerns. She can be contacted by email at: [email protected].