“The graffiti on Nelson St is AWESOME, but that is completely besides the point. We should be able to afford both art and care for the elderly.”

“Cllr Jon Rogers will be visiting Trinity Care Service Day Centre on 18 October at 1.30pm to speak with our concerned service users. I sincerely hope he can explain how our day centre can remain open without similar levels of funding to that we have received up until now. Mark Griffiths.”

“Proposed personal budget - how will these people be given a budget - if they don't get assessed!
Have you ever tried to refer someone to Care Direct! When you eventually get through, some details are taken over the phone and they seem to decide there and then if you meet the criteria. How can you decide someones needs over the telephone - EVERYONE should be seen personally and given a fair access to care assesment. If you are changing the system them you need to do your background work and actually go along and see the people who are going to be greatly affected by this. Fair access to care assessment for ALL users.”

“Bristol's excellent Care Direct service!!!!!!!! has cllr Jon Rogers ever done a refurral to this wonderful service that he clams is excellent? I sure have and worked the care industry for 13 years and in my experience it's not a excellent service if you can't always get through, and if and when you do get through you get fobbed off!”

“Councillor Rodgers comments that; "If anyone is concerned that they or a relative or friend may lose out then I would encourage a call to Bristol's excellent Care Direct service on 922 2700."

This is the essence of why the policy is so disastrous; How many of you, the public even knew the Council is expecting you to do this for your vulnerable loved ones? Or who you were supposed to call to prepare for these ground-shifting changes to care?

And the charities that provide the services the elderly, disabled, and desperate use now are going to have to in turn guess how many of these clients will have sorted out some level of Personal Budget, and be successful in getting it, and then divide up the total running costs and charge that level of service to your Personal Budgets. Minus the figures provided by the Council for those they accept are too ill to manage one, and that they will "Spot Purchase" a place for. Plus the figures for those who use the services but aren't recorded anywhere, and can afford to pay something themselves, whilst throwing out those who need but can't pay from any possible source... And we'll have to hire an Accountant full time then. And possibly a Bouncer...

The policy design is clearly adding a further level of bureaucracy, and the free market ideal to what survives of the process to keep the vulnerable getting the services they were already using, whilst it will ensure the most vulnerable people are likely to fall through the cracks by being unable to navigate the system. And whilst TCS have been trying to do arrange these Assessments for our clients to protect them for the future all the same, due to our "Duty Of Care", it's impossible to get through to this ONE element of the Council when all the affected of Bristol is trying to do that in a desperate race against time too.

In the meantime, we at TCS are now just 1 month away from the only concrete date we have been given, the 31st of October; Our staff have had to be given their legal notice, and yet so far only TWO of our clients have been assessed, both of whom were picked up because their conditions were chronic enough, but their mental faculties strong enough to already be known by multiple agencies within the Council and Social Services. Considering the consequences bearing down on the elderly, this is just not acceptable.

And that's before you take into account the hidden cuts that will be included in the shockingly low Personal Budget figure quoted in this story. If accurate, even if you get full support from the Council, you simply won't be able to Budget for anywhere near the things you once did, much less what you need. The elderly, having paid tax all their lives for these very services, now have to agonizingly decide which to pick and choose between getting.

So I once more welcome the step the Council is taking in coming to talk to the elderly themselves at our centre. The only request we make is that they LISTEN to the voices they'll find there, and keep their eyes open to the wide range of conditions and complications these people face in trying to maintain dignity in their dotage.

And to remember we are just ONE charity facing closure, with a particular set of problems to overcome. There are many more out there, and they all have different needs and issues too. More voices that need to be heard. Yet you are applying the exact same model to them too.”

“roly12345 "strongly recommends the people who are soon to loose this valuable and may I say very inexpensive service should seek free professional guidance on how to fill in assessment needs forms."

This is very reasonable advice, however the experienced council officers are very skilled at ensuring that residents' needs are correctly assessed and give help with ensuring those needs are met.

If anyone is concerned that they or a relative or friend may lose out then I would encourage a call to Bristol's excellent Care Direct service on 922 2700.”

“The changes in the way services are funded is causing concern to some organisations.

These changes are happening across the country as "council block contracts" are replaced by "resident personal budgets".

I am determined that the needs of residents will continue to be met, and see no reason why residents attending the Trinity Day Service wouldn't want to use their personal budgets to continue funding the service. Organisations like Trinity Day Service do now have to be attractive to residents, and from all I hear, they are.

I am keen to meet up with the local residents and if they want to meet their needs through this service there is no reason for the service to close.

The council officers are helping both the residents and the organisation to make sure that all needs are met.

Cllr Dr Jon Rogers, Exec Member for Care and Health”

“From reading this site previously I know that Cllr Rogers is normally the first to pop up a comment and defend himself. Maybe he now realises that the indefensible cannot be defended.

It's clear from comments here that BCC will not be assessing all the clients of Trinity Day Service, that they are being denied a choice and, from what I can make out, when things get cut on 31 October, these people will have nowhere to go and nobody to care for them.

The council cannot possibly justify this action. Their silence on the issue is deafening.”

“I strongly recommend the people who are soon to loose this valuable and may I say very inexpensive service should seek free professional guidance on how to fill in assessment needs forms.

The council will not assist or rightfully explain any of the criteria it uses to assess your needs and one slip of the pen could be the difference between hiding away in a damp flat until you pass on, or living an enjoyable life with good friends and a warm place to chat.

Better still I hope the council rethinks this action and shows some compassion to those who lived through WWII and helped rebuild the world afterwards”

“My name is Ian Hodgkinson, and I am one of the unpaid volunteers at Trinity Care Service. I was also the lead petitioner for the "Save Trinity Care Service Day Centre for Older People" petition which was submitted to Bristol City Council;

http://tinyurl.com/3gawxax

We collected 1119 signatures protesting this policy within a mere two weeks, of which the Council verified themselves 928; Furthermore, myself as a concerned member of the public and our Treasurer Andy Murray went to speak on behalf of our elderly to the Council in full session on the 6th of September. As of the time of me writing this, there has been no official response to either myself as Petitioner, or TCS management to any of these representations.

However, I have been made aware that Councillor Jon Rodgers does intend to honour his commitment to come and visit our service, and we will certainly have a warm cup of tea waiting for him if he does; there might even be a biscuit.

And I thank him for his fulsome praise on BBC Radio Bristol yesterday for our services, and the admission the Council was working from incorrect figures regarding what we do; but it seems that current Council policy is to state regardless that "Gosh you work so very well in Practice, but how does your service measure up in Theory?"

Unfortunately, it would help if we even knew the details of that theory; the £100 "Personal Budget" figure quoted in the article is entirely new to us; TCS has received no information regarding the mechanics, and as our Manager Mr Griffiths has commented above, we've found it impossible to get the vulnerable we care for even into the queue for assessment, so they are at least supported whenever the Theory becomes reality.

I would remind all readers that this potential £100, if an accurate report of what the Council is really thinking, is not just for our service; it would be for ALL social services for each client, whilst each provider would in turn be expected to run as a business and charge each individual what ever it needed... or more likely, what it would like to earn. The current Business rate for a Home Care Assistant is £10 - £16 per hour, roughly (the carer themselves don't get paid that of course). £100 of "Personal Budget" and will thus buy you two half-days (6 to 8 hours) of home care. And nothing else. No day centre for you if you didn't budget for that as well.

Would you like to guess how well some of the dear little old ladies with dementia, slipping through the cracks of Assessment, are going to be able to use that level of "Freedom and choice"?”