Forum Brief: Disability services

Disabilities charity John Grooms has published a report on the funding, planning and delivery of care for people with disabilities.

It argues that out-of-date information is resulting in poorly planned, inadequate and inappropriate care, housing and health services for many disabled people.

Forum Response: General Social Care Council

A spokeswoman for the GSCC told ePolitix.com: "The General Social Care Council welcomes the results of the John Grooms inquiry into the current and future needs of disabled people.

"The findings raise important issues regarding services available to people with disabilities and the quality of care they receive. Social care workers work hard to maintain excellent standards of care helping people with disabilities to live full and independent lives.

"This is ensured in the General Social Care Council's codes of practice under section 3.1 which states that social care workers must promote the independence of services users while protecting them as far as possible from danger or harm, including promoting their independence and assisting them to understand and exercise their rights.

Forum Response: The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

Robin Hutchinson, head of communications at the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, told ePolitix.com: "The findings published in the John Grooms report today echo the experiences of many blind and partially sighted people.

"Patchy service provision, based on inadequate and out of date information is the norm for vision impaired people in many parts of the UK.

"And this situation appears to be mirrored in services which seek to prevent the development of sight threatening conditions, with enormous differences in provision being apparent between primary health care trusts.

"Disabled people, and the rest of the population, are entitled to better than this and the situation needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency."

Forum Response: The Disabilities Trust

Matt Townsend, spokesman for the Disabilities Trust, told ePolitix.com: "Today's publication of John Grooms' comprehensive survey of provision for people with disabilities reveals some worrying gaps in basic care and support services.

"In particular it is not acceptable that despite recent improvements in awareness and legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act, there are still severe problems with regard to housing.

"For our part the Disabilities Trust works in partnership with a number of local housing associations to address access needs while we develop our services. We feel we are therefore able to provide the most up to date facilities for our service user groups.

"While the report rightly highlights many concerns regarding the lack of 'joined-up' thinking and provision from government agencies, it is perhaps a regrettable truth for the voluntary and charitable sector to recognise, that it is always going to be difficult for the authorities to achieve this ideal and that we will therefore have to constantly reiterate this message."

Forum Response: Voice UK

Marian Smith, spokeswoman for Voice UK and a wheelchair user, told ePolitix.com: "I welcome the findings of the inquiry. But it a sign of the times that we need an inquiry to tell everyone else what disabled people have known for years.

"Services rarely meet the needs of people and people using the services are expected to fit in with the way they've been organised, rather than have the services organised around the people.

"Remarkably in 2003 organisations providing support get ideas of choice, independence and dignity confused and disabled people are left equally confused and without a service that suits their needs.

"While ever carers of disabled people are paid less than shopworkers the status of their work and the people they care for is going to be poor."

Forum Response: HFT

A spokeswoman for HFT told ePolitix.com: "As a national charity supporting people with learning disabilities, HFT thinks that there should be more emphasis on using existing knowledge in the sector. Saying we don't know enough, is a powerful excuse for inaction. We know a great deal already about the types and volume of needs of people with learning disabilities.

"HFT believes that there should be a more positive emphasis on the individual integrity and worth of each person - that disabled people are people first. There should also be more emphasis on learning from best practice and there are many good examples around. Finally, there should be more emphasis on services being designed and managed by and with people with disabilities."