Surrey MP accuses county council of breaking the law regarding adult social care
The Dorking and Horley MP Chris Coghlan says Surrey County Council has acted illegally after plans were released to cut care hours within a supported living centre.
An MP has said Surrey County Council has acted illegally after plans were released to cut care hours within a supported living centre.
Peak15 houses 27 individuals, who could see their one to one hours cut after council workers consulted the residents without their carers present.
A cut of nearly 95%
Peak15 claims that of the 27 people who had a needs assessment, only one person is thought to have the mental capacity to understand the consequences of cutting their care hours. No capacity assessments were believed to have taken place.
One individual significant learning difficulties could see their weekly one-to-one support hours cut from 31.75 to 2, a cut of over 93%, a change Dorking and Horley MP Chris Coghlan says could be life threatening
"One of my constituents, he's an adult with Down syndrome and type one diabetes. So that is literally life-threatening if his one-to-one care support is cut from 30 hours to two.
There is a chance he could die as a result"
Coghlan described this act as shocking and depressing
"It was horrifying to know that some of my most vulnerable constituents, highly disabled people, we should trust the state to look after them.
But instead we're seeing the local council breaking the law and putting putting their lives at risk and just the utter indifference to the lives of my constituents is is is shocking and depressing."
"We're convinced that Surrey County Council broke the law here"
Coghlan added he is confident the county council have broken the law, and compared the move to going back to the days of asylums
"We're convinced that Surrey County Council broke the law here. They broke the Mental Capacity Act.
They should have assessed whether these people had the mental capacity to understand what was happening to them.
It'd be back to the old days of asylums where they're locked up out of sight, out of mind."
Coghlan set out what he thinks the next steps from the council should be
"In a short term, Surrey County Council need to redo the assessments properly and almost certainly not cut their care hours.
I understand that local authority funding has been cut to the bone over the years, we all know that. But that is not an excuse for putting people's lives at risk in this kind of situation. You turn around, you say 'help' then you go to your member of parliament or then you go to the media and you escalate it"
A Spokesperson from Surrey County Council has said the following in a statement:
“We’re absolutely committed to making sure that people get the right support to meet their needs and build their independence
Care Act assessments are carried out by qualified professionals in line with our legal duties, with decisions based on evidence rather than targets, and we also consider bringing in others close to the individual.
We won’t comment on individual cases, but if someone feels their assessment doesn’t fully reflect their situation, we encourage them to contact us directly and we’ll urgently consider if a reassessment is needed."