Dates for your diary!

There are a couple of dates for your diary, if you can make them!
Firstly, Friday 11th Feb, lobby/protest outside Civic Hall, 12 midday, to ensure the councillors know the strength of feeling as they go in to vote on the future of these essential services.

Also, there will be another lobby of councillors on 23rd Feb, as they go into a full council meeting. Again, a show of strength is needed here, so if you can get there, please do! (Time to follow soon!)

On 26th March there is a march against the cuts in London, organised by the TUC. Let us really get our voice heard, and make sure that the government know that these kind of cuts are not acceptable. Unison has some transport, details to follow soon!

Thats the lot for now, hoping for more soon. Please come along to as many of these as you can!

Public Meeting

The public meeting is today, 2pm at the Civic Hall. There will be a demonstration outside from 1pm. Please come along if you possibly can, we need to show the council how much these services mean to everyone.
There will also be a demonstration on Friday for the Executive Board meeting, to encourage the councillors to stop these ridiculous proposals.

Outcomes rather than process

The proposals state that the "creative solutions" service will have a sharper focus on "Outcomes rather than process, which will distinguish it from traditional day services". Do they really think that the current services offer activities as just a process? Each activity is researched and planned, with evidence to show that it will help people to recover.
All of the elements of the new service are already on offer through current services, so the change is purely that people will be expected to go from Acute services straight into their local community. This is not appropriate for the vast majority of service users, people are still struggling with their illness and need more intensive support than can be offered in a community setting.
The staff and the service users are not adverse to change, we are fully aware that people are missed by the current system, but taking away vital support will only increase this problem. The higher management who come up with these ideas are not in touch with the people on the front line. Come and talk to us, lets have a discussion about how we can improve the service, not reduce it!

Part of the response to proposals

Now the proposals are published, we can respond properly. This is just one paragraph from one of the responses seen so far!

In all, these proposals will damage the mental health day services provided by Leeds City Council. The vulnerability of service users has not been taken into consideration, and the vast majority of service users have not been given the opportunity to have any input into their own support. There are no changes to the aims and objectives of the mental health system, these aims have been worked towards for many years. It is very clear that despite what the report claims about it not being a cost-driven exercise, these proposals have only been recommended due to financial difficulties. The NHS is unable to fill the gaps in the service that these proposals will cause, which will leave many vulnerable and ill people without appropriate support to recover.

Do let us know if you have any responses to these dangerous and life-threatening proposals!

Proposals published

The council have published the proposals regarding the day centres and the crisis centre. Very little has changed, apparently though it is now much more about cost, they do not seem to care much for the people involved. There will be a response very soon!
http://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=52959

John Lennon visits Vale

John Lennon attended the Vale day centre yesterday, in order to see what it is that people want to save. Although this did little to change his opinion, he was in no doubt about the strength of feeling about his proposals. More points about this will follow, but congratulations to everyone in the meeting for making some excellent comments, and making him answer some very uncomfortable questions!
Also there was Lucinda Yeadon, a surprise visit from her. At least she has actually seen one of the centres that she is supposed to represent in the council!

Gertrude has many more friends!

Gertrudes friends on Facebook grew yesterday, to 61 people! Not bad for a toy!!
We have also been in touch with Stephen Fry's agents, asking for him to extend hiws support to the compaign for the day centres as well as the crisis centre. Please, ask your friends, family and eveyone else to join the compaign to save these vital services!

Another press release by a misled councillor

Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, executive board member with responsibility for adult social care, said:“These changes are about finding more meaningful alternatives for people, based on how citizens and staff have said they would like support to be delivered in the future." We would welcome news on how many staff have said that the day centres should close! None have said this publicly, and none are known to have said this!

“Our day centres have provided a good service for years, but many people are telling us they would like to be supported in other ways.  Increasingly, people want services which are more tailored to their needs.  After all, what works for one person might not necessarily work for someone else.  The future of mental health day support is about individuals, not institutions." How do day centres compare to institutions? The choice of language is interesting, would Councillor Yeadon care to tell us how what happened in the institutions is similar to the activities of the day centres please!

The current service also tailors to individual needs, this is central to the ethos of the day centres, and has been for many years!

“Making these changes will ensure services are available to help people to recover, or to better manage their condition, and enable them to take part in activities which are available to everyone – like education, training and employment." So the new service will enable people to do exactly what they can in the day centres! Seems like a lot of work to do the same thing! This shows that Councillor Yeadon, the Executive Board member for Adult Social Care, does not know what happens in an adult social care centre!

“Good mental health day support should be a bridge back into the community.”

Leeds’ adult social care department will be asking the council’s executive board to agree these plans in February 2011.  If the changes are approved, the council will work with the NHS to commission a wide range of modernised mental health services, focused on recovery and supporting people to access mainstream opportunities." So it will focus on the same things that the current service has for years!

 

(Of course, the comments in red are not quotes from Lucinda Yeadon!!)

Public meeting - CORRECTION

The Public Meeting on the 8th Feb is at 2pm, not 1pm as stated earlier.
This meeting will be in the council chambers at the Civic Hall in Leeds. Please come along if you possibly can, we need as many people as we can.

New Website

Our website is now live, have a look HERE

Public meeting

Unison is holding a meeting on Tuesday 8th Feb for Unison members, service users and anyone else who is interested in mental health services in Leeds. They want to get service users’ and others’ views about the proposals to cut the Crisis Centre and Leeds’ mental health day centres. It is at the Civic Hall in Leeds city centre at 1pm.
There is also a TUC demonstration in London at 11am on 26th March against cuts to public services. Coaches will be organised from Leeds. See www.unison.org.uk/million or www.facebook.com/amillionvoices
(From the Crisis centre blog)

Twitter account

You can now follow us on Twitter, @saveallcentres. The more the better!

Unison leaflet

This is the leaflet that Unison has produced. If you would like copies of this to give out to the public, please speak to the Unison office, or email saveourservices@gmx.co.uk.

Leeds City Council is proposing to close services:

They plan to close:

·        The Vale Mental Health Day Centre

·        Stocks Hill Mental Health Day Centre

This will leave only a pared down service which will run at Lovell Park Centre.

Mental health day centres are staffed by skilled and experienced staff. These community based centres provide a wide range of services to help people to recover when they have been unwell and to prevent relapse. They do this by providing:

• A warm and welcoming atmosphere in which people can make friends
• A personalised approach. People have their own support plan which is just right for them
• Individual key working which helps people make changes in their lives
• A wide range of groups to encourage new interests and to rekindle old ones 
• Education classes for the whole community
• Support with volunteering and/or returning to paid employment
• Individual sessions out and about, helping people to overcome anxiety and get on with their lives.
• Hope at those times when everything feels hopeless

Leeds City Council also plans to close

·        Leeds Crisis Centre

This award winning centre helps people who find themselves in a crisis. Maybe a relationship has come to an end or perhaps there has been a death in the family. Anyone who is experiencing a crisis and feels that they’re not coping can contact Leeds Crisis Centre for help. Using counselling as an intervention, experienced and skilled staff help people to deal with a crisis in a positive way. There is no other service like this in the city.

Learn more by visiting http://saveleedscrisiscentre.wordpess.com/

SAVE OUR CENTRES is a campaign to keep these vital and cost effective frontline services. Please help:

• Send an email to branch@leedsunisonlg.org.uk

We’ll keep you in touch with what’s going on

• Tell others – friends, family and colleagues
• Write to your local councillors and visit their surgeries

Details at your local library or visit www.leeds.gov.uk

• If you’re in a trade union, raise it at your Branch
• If you’d like copies of this leaflet let us know
• If there are other ways you can help, please tell us by email or by phoning 0113 245 8442

We look forward to welcoming you to the campaign

Thank you to the Unison staff and reps involved in producing this.

Contact Us

If you have something you think should be on here, but don't want it to go as a comment, you can email saveourservices@gmx.co.uk. I will go through all posts as soon as possible!

What this is!

It has been pointed out that there is nothing here to explain to newcomers what this is about, so here goes.

A proposal was put to Leeds City Council in December to close the Crisis Centre, along with 2 of the 3 day centres. There will be no alternative provision for the crisis centre, and some community service would be available for some of the service users from the day centres. This proposal was delayed pending further consultation, and is due to be discussed by the Executive Board on the 11th Feb. This 'further consultation' has not been had, and no alternatives have been offered.

The report, (http://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=51118 ) claims that the Crisis Centre is a duplicated service, and that the NHS, through IAPTs, would fulfil this role. IAPT staff have commented on the Crisis Centre's blog that this is not the case, in fact IAPT refer people to the Crisis Centre!

The report also states several inaccuracies about the day centres. The activities that are provided through the day centres are not there simply to occupy time, these are thought out, therapeutic activities to enable service users to recover.

Many service users are not well enough to be able to access community support, this would isolate these people, making recovery impossible. There is also a great many people who rely on the day centre as the only peer support that they can receive, due to the stigma and prejudice that surrounds mental health.

Without the day centres and the crisis centre, much more pressure will be placed on families, many more people will be unable to return to work, and the suicide rate is bound to increase. This is not acceptable.

While many will bring up the cost of these services, the report includes figures that suggest that closing the three centres would save the council just over £1m. This is a small percentage of the council's budget, and savings can be made in places that would not endanger people’s lives.

There are many more reasons for all 3 centres to stay open, I am sure that these will be posted in the near future! Thank you for taking the time to read this, your support is appreciated by many people!

Email to Ed Balls

 This has been sent to Ed Balls via email, similar will be sent to all local MP's.

I am writing to ask for your support in protecting the vital mental health services provided by Leeds City Council. You have been contacted by many other people about this, yet noone has received a response. The services under threat save many lives, and help people to recover from mental illness and to rejoin the community. Closing these services will lead to a much higher suicide rate in Leeds, destroy families who rely on the support on offer, and keep many people on sickness benefits. The amount of money that is due to be saved by this is less than £2m, which could easily be saved elsewhere, in places that would not endanger lives. 1 in 4 people will face mental ill health at some time in their life, and these services help them to pick up the pieces of their life, recover, and play an active part in society. I urge you to step in and help, this affects a large number of your voting constituents, and we rely on you to protect our area!

 While I'm here, can I ask everyone to use the "follow" button on the right of this page, this gives us a realistic number of supporters! Thanks in advance!

Facebook

We have a facebook group, try http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&tid=485256962790#!/home.php?sk=group_196497363699891
This is an open group for anyone to join, lets get those numbers up!!!

Where to find it!

A few links to keep an eye on.....
 http://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CId=102&Year=2011- This is where the proposals should be available, check the February meeting on or after 4th Feb.

http://saveleedscrisiscentre.wordpress.com/ - the blog from the Crisis centre

http://www.guardian.co.uk/leeds/2010/dec/15/leeds-civic-hall-mental-health-cuts-protest - One of the reports from the reaction to the first proposal

Welcome

This is a blog to keep everyone informed about the progress of the fight to save 2 day centres and the crisis centre in Leeds.
The cuts that have been proposed take vital services away from the most vulnerable people. There has been a great deal of hard work that has gone into keeping these services, and an early "thankyou" to everyone involved.