At-risk respite centre 'has been a home from home for 30 years'

Two respite care centres are facing an uncertain future. Lincolnshire County Council has proposed closing Swallow Lodge and Cedar House in favour of multiple providers across the region. But families opposing the move say the units provide a "home from home" for vulnerable adults.

"Take your slippers off, and your glasses," Karen Dixon says to her son, Wayne, as he slides off his chair and shuffles along the floor for his morning shower.

Wayne has learning difficulties and arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, a condition affecting his muscles and joints, which means looking after him is a round-the-clock job.

"He needs showering, I prepare all his meals, we cut his food up because he tends to choke," Karen says.

"If he was in his wheelchair and we weren't with him, he'd go straight across the road without looking."

Wayne spends four days each month at Swallow Lodge in North Hykeham, a respite care centre for adults that allows the family to take a break.

"Without Swallow Lodge I don't know what we'd have done throughout the years," Karen says.

"It's like a second home to him and it's a lifeline for us."

Lincolnshire County Council has proposed closing the centre along with Cedar House in Spalding.

Under the plans, services would be transferred to homes that currently provide residential and nursing care for working-age adults.

The authority says the change has been "designed to provide a better experience for families and would offer them greater choice, flexibility and care nearer to home".

But Karen describes the plans as "just unbelievable".

"It means so much to Wayne, and to us, it's been his life for nearly 30 years. To say 'You can't go anymore Wayne', I can't do it to him," she says through tears.

"He won't know where he is. He probably will go off his food. I know he won't sleep".

At a public meeting organised by Councillor Marianne Overton, who sits as an independent, other families shared their frustrations.

For Tony Davis, whose son stays at one of the homes for three nights each month, it is "vital he keeps that continuity going and isn't disadvantaged by going to different places all the time".

Karen Allen, whose son has a series of health conditions, says there are too many unanswered questions about the proposals.

"We've had nothing at all from Lincolnshire County Council, nothing," she adds.

A council report states that the current service costs £1.25m per year and the proposed alternative would cost £3.77m over three years.

The authority says the current model has a low uptake of 50-65%.

Councillor Steve Clegg, executive member for adult care and health at the authority, says the closure of the homes is "a possibility, but no decisions have been made".

He argues some people who are eligible for the service have been put off travelling to Swallow Lodge or Cedar House and "recommendation was to make it more widespread around the county".

However, he admits the council could have been clearer in its communication with families and insists the new model would not involve younger adults staying alongside elderly people in residential care homes.

"We are going to continue to engage with people who've expressed concerns," he adds.

"I would like to stress that this is not, and has never been, about reducing access to services, nor is it driven by a need to save money."

The council says it is working to extend a contract with the current provider at Swallow Lodge and Cedar House to allow more time to make a decision about the future of the service.

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