as i have elderly grandmudder live wid me. i am also in disgust of policy and social convention which encourage the placement of the elderly person in the caring home.

rock on sister

Staffordshire County Council have added insult to injury by bad-mouthing the RAGE Staffordshire campaign and pouring £12,000 of tax-payers money into full-page press ads full of propaganda. They have the gall to suggest that WE are wasting money.

RAGE Staffordshire was created to fight for the rights of those who are currently in residential homes or who use day services. We are fighting to keep them open for people to use in the future.

Fo more information, visit the website: http://rage-staffordshire.org

I have read through the minutes of the Cabinet meeting on 7th February and
it is very apparent that this is not about changing anyones life for the
better but about a severe overspend which has to be eradicated as quickly as
possible, without any thought of the consequences or how the plans are to be
put into place.

My mother, who is nearly 92, has been a resident at Horace Pritchard House
in Burton for over 2 years now, receiving excellent care and is very happy
there. Until I brought it to the attention of the authorities, she had not
received an invoice for her contribution towards the cost of her care. I
received an ivoice on Saturdsay, 17th February for over £9,000.00. If she
had had assets and had not been fully funded, this would have been more like
£45,000.00.

I know that my mother is not the only resident not to have received regular
billing. There are several and, in one case, a lady received an invoice
only after her mother had passed away, which was for 17 months care.

If this has happened in one home, one can only imagine what the outstanding
amount over the 22 council homes in the county might be.

I am very angry and feel that, if this financial mis-management had not
occurred, along with the millions which have recently been spent
refurbishing many of the homes which are now simply to be closed, these poor
residents may not have been put in the position of having to be evicted. Of
course, the people who are at the receiving end of these costs are not
considered to be of any value as the majority of them are not part of the
voting public, but I can assure you that the hundreds of people involved in
this campaign against the closures will not be voting for either a Labour
council or a Labour government in the future.

Any support you can give us would be very much appreciated.