Socialist Party members out campaigning against care home closures, photo by Carlisle Socialist Party

Socialist Party members out campaigning against care home closures, photo by Carlisle Socialist Party   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Carlisle Socialist Party

Cumbria County Council is planning to close three care homes and replace them with another building which only has 60 beds instead of the current 117. Another four homes will be closed in West Cumbria. Only those suffering from dementia and the most complex needs will get a place. But what about respite care? What about family carers?

Why don’t the council put up a fight against the Tory government cuts instead of just passing them on to the most vulnerable? For six years the Blairite New Labour councillors have colluded with the local Tories, and now the Liberal Democrats, to faithfully impose on Cumbria cuts to our vital public services.

The councillors are being dishonest and cynical in deliberately manufacturing a false impression about the necessity of these homes. They claim they are half empty, but this is because they have recently been turning needy people away and not employing enough staff in order to justify their plan to cut costs.

Their other excuse sounds nice: caring for old folk longer in their own homes. But the reality will be a carer finding an ‘independent’ incontinent old person lying face down on the floor after a fall in the night suffering hypothermia.

“Care in the community” means abandoned in the community. These cuts will be fatal. They, and the cuts to the NHS and Cumbrian schools, must be abandoned now.

Carlisle Socialist Party have started a campaign against these closures and have collected over 300 signatures to our petition already.

Join our fight against the cuts and come to our public meeting on 17 October at 7pm at the Club Britannia, 35 Lowther St, Carlisle