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News and Comment September 2013

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10 September (Part 2) - Early intervention

LeafletIt must be the in phrase. Director of Social Care, Mark Charters, used it three times in the first four paragraphs of his reported interview with CommunityCare at the beginning of the month, and now it is the main theme of Bexley council’s latest Press Release. “Early Intervention’. It is a nice ‘sounds good’ phrase but I imagine it might generate a certain amount of rage when Trevor Lawrie reads it. Early Intervention by Bexley’s failing care services might well have saved his grandson from a life of pain and an early death.

It’s always possible Bexley council has learned something from their mistakes I suppose. The previous director Deborah Absalom left soon after Rhys died. It might not be coincidence, but in political circles the same old attitudes prevail.

Cabinet member Chris Taylor is not afraid to boast at council meetings - twice in my presence - that Bexley council has been paying its care workers less than any other nearby borough. Illegally below the minimum wage in some cases.

Freezing council tax is all very nice and looks good on an election leaflet, but it comes at a price. People die. No one answers emergency calls, no one can afford to put a warden in sheltered housing - but we can afford £100 million for a Boris bike track.

 

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