UNISON is calling for the Scottish government to stop the closure of 12 care homes run by Bield Housing and Care. UNISON will make this call at a public meeting called by the families of the elderly and vulnerable at a public meeting today (Saturday 13 January).
160 elderly people with dependent needs, including 24 hour personal care and feeding assistance, are being evicted from the place they have called home for decades. Many are over 90 years old. And up to two hundred qualified registered care workers are being made compulsorily redundant. The families of those affected are calling this a disaster
Bield Housing and Care, announced in October 2017 that they intended closing 12 care homes in Edinburgh, Falkirk, Glasgow, Borders, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian by summer 2018. Families, with UNISON, have been campaigning to keep the homes open.
Now relatives of those affected are holding an urgent public meeting to discuss concerns around the future of social care for the elderly in Scotland, at 1pm on Saturday 13 January 2018.
UNISON Scotland are supporting the families’ campaign to keep this closure programme in public eye and to continue the debate about elderly care provision, the role of the integrated joint boards and commissioning to the third and not-for profit sector.
John Gallacher, Scottish Organiser said:“UNISON has been supporting families, lobbying hard for intervention to stop Bield’s care homes closure programme. We are disappointed that Scottish government ministers seem content to stand by and let the closures happen, when the lives of vulnerable elderly people are at risk, and the jobs of essential care workers in many Scottish communities are being jettisoned. If it goes ahead it will be a disaster.
“New integrated joint boards should be subjected to proper political and public scrutiny and held accountable for allowing such damaging developments to take place within ridiculously short timescales. The public meeting on Saturday 13 January 2018 will again call for action on Bield’s abandonment of residential elderly care”
Notes
• UNISON is the largest union in Bield Housing and Care.
• Urgent Public meeting will be at: 1pm Saturday 13th January 2018, UNISON, 14 West Campbell Street, Glasgow, G2 6RX Speakers include: UNISON Scottish Organiser, John Gallacher; Honorary Professor of Social Work and Social Policy, UWS and SWAN Steering Committee, Iain Ferguson; Concerned Relative & Member of ‘Save Our Bield’, Laura Owens
UNISON Contacts
• John Gallacher, Scottish organiser, 07904 342426
• Danny Phillips, communications officer, 07944 664110