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| Day centre shuts despite warnings |
Closure despite 3,000 name petition
SOCIAL services have shut down a mental health day centre despite
grave warnings that the closure will lead to more suicides, unnecessary
suffering and patient isolation.
The Jamestown Day Centre in Adelaide Road, Swiss Cottage, was finally
axed at a council cabinet meeting last Wednesday after department
chief Councillor Geethika Jayatilaka waved away a massive rescue
campaign from service users.
The service is now likely to be closed by next March.
Cllr Jayatilaka pushed ahead with the cuts with the full support
of the Labour executive, the inner cabal of senior councillors who
have the final say on Town Hall policy.
She said that resources should be spread across the department and
warned that mental health sufferers who do not use day centres need
more help.
The controversial decision to close the Jamestown Centre, however,
was taken despite a march on the Town Hall by mental health service
users, a 3,000 signature petition and repeated calls from the opposition
benches for a re-think.
At the decisive meeting, supporters of the centre packed the public
benches and upstairs gallery in the main council chamber while three
service users made a last-ditch appeal.
Hugh Sturrock, objecting to the cuts, told the meeting: “The
day service stops people who are depressed feeling isolated. It
is a vital service.”
Adriana Aldridge, another campaigner, added: “The Jamestown
Centre is the best one (day centre) in Camden. It has increased
our depression and anxiety to hear that it could close. We now feel
more ill.”
In a previous debate on the proposed closure, Liberal Democrat councillor
Heather Thompson said the cut could lead to more suicides in Camden.
But although Cllr Jayatilaka thanked protesters for attending the
meeting and making clear their fears, she left them disappointed
with an unerring resolution that the day centre had to go.
She said: “Day centres will exist for the people that need
them. And we will work with the people that use Jamestown to ensure
they can continue to meet and enjoy the mutual support they offer
each other at another centre.
“However, we know that over three quarters of those with mental
health problems in the borough do not use day centres and it is
vital that we provide support for these service users too.”
Cllr Jayatilaka had previously insisted that no final decision had
been made on the closure but can every discussion she has maintained
the same argument concerning the distribution of resources and has
never swayed from the recommendations from officials in the social
services department that the service should be cut. Many campaigners
said afterwards that they felt a decision had been made long before
last Wednesday’s meeting and that their protests fell on deaf
ears.
Cllr Jayatilaka is now under pressure to ensure that a shake-up
in mental health services runs smoothly and that users of the Jamestown
Centre do not lose out, effectively her biggest test since claiming
the role of social services supremo 18 months ago.
She said: “The money saved by closing the Jamestown Centre
will be used to provide different sorts of services so that we can
meet the needs of the majority of those with mental health problems
in the Borough.” |
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Give power to the people
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