March 2nd 2012
Hello Everyone,
The Government's controversial Welfare Reform Bill, which
applies to England, Scotlandand Wales, has passed its final hurdle
in the House of Lords. The bill introduces an annual cap on
benefits and overhauls many payments within the welfare system
including Disability Living Allowance. David Cameron is clearly
relieved and has said that it marks an historic step in the biggest
welfare revolution in more than 60 years but a report from the
Joint Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights has warned
that changes to the benefits of disabled people may risk their
right to independent living. We will continue to make
representations to MPs as appropriate and Carol Dale, Divisional
Manager Scotland recently met Willie Bain MP who represents Glasgow
North East and is Shadow Minister forScotland to discuss the
implications for the region. Mr Bain is extremely concerned that
the Government is not listening to people with disabilities and
feels, as we do, that the assessments of eligibility need to be
reviewed. Carol also spoke to him about our plans to provide
detox/relapse prevention for individuals with acquired brain injury
and said that he would be happy to write a letter of support for
the project to potential funders, as would his colleague Patricia
Ferguson, the constituency MSP for Maryhill and Springburn; so we
will be talking to him further about this.
I visited Acom
Road, York and Oxford Drive,
Gomersal this week with Julia Morley, Director of Community
Services. I hadn't visitedAcom Road for a while and wanted to catch
up with Steven Camerin who raised £140 for the Trust by selling
Christmas cakes. I bought one and it was delicious. I would like to
thank Steven and Support Workers, Kelly Armstrong and Kate Cassidy
for making us so welcome. AtOxford Drive we were greeted by Andrew
Pulfer, Michael Barnes and Wayne Addinall; Acting House Leader,
Robert Shires and Support Worker, Kilford Shurugwi. I don't want
you to think that all our visits are about the food but we were
served some delicious chocolate flapjacks. Thank you all for a very
interesting afternoon.
I
was also invited to join service users, staff and guests at a cream
tea at Ernest Kleinwort Court but I had
already arranged to go to the Goole Neuro-Rehabiltation
Centre. A number of people from Central Support Services in
Burgess Hill did attend and had a most enjoyable time, as did the
service users. I was particularly pleased to hear from one lady who
is having a short break there and is keen to move in on a permanent
basis. She told Anita Cobb, Service Manager that despite only
having been there for two days, she felt at home and wanted to move
in as soon as possible. We'll do all we can to support her in
this.
In response to family suggestions, the activity room at 1101 Bristol
Road,Birmingham, has been transformed into a lovely, peaceful
visitors' room, so that service users and their families now have
somewhere where they can have quiet, private meetings. Service
Manager Holly Randall said: "I would personally like to thank Max
our handyperson for his painting and decorating skills. We already
get positive feedback from our service users that their privacy is
well respected here atBristol Road, however I feel this inviting
room goes that extra mile."
I have a request from the students at Heathermount;
they have started collecting the Sainsbury's Active Kids vouchers
and will be collecting the Tesco ones when they start in March. If
you have any vouchers that you don't need, please send them to
Helen Tridgell at CSS and she will pass them on.
I also have a request from Pawel Ciecierski, Physiotherapy
Assistant at West Heath House. He is looking for
people to join a team to raise money for BIRT at a Swimathon
Weekend in Birmingham on April 27th. They plan to swim
5k each, so if you are interested in swimming or supporting, please
contact Pawel.
Have a good weekend and I'll speak to you next week.
Barrie
Chief Executive