Council cuts are forcing OAP to leave her home

Published on Wednesday 16 September 2009 09:54

A FRAIL 96-year-old said today she was being forced out of her home of nearly 30 years – because of council cutbacks.

Jessie Hutchison will leave her sheltered housing complex next month to live with her daughter because council chiefs in Midlothian no longer provide on-site warden cover.

Her fears have been backed up by the other tenants at the Esk Place complex in Dalkeith, who say the move to scrap round-the-clock cover could lead to a death.

Changes mean a warden is only on-site between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Friday. If there is an emergency, the victim has to pull an emergency cord which contacts a call centre at Midlothian House. They will then source either a warden who is out and about in the region or pursue an on-call employee.

Residents said it only took a few days for the system to show its weakness, when one elderly tenant fell and pressed the emergency button. It then took 17 minutes for that call to be answered, and a further half an hour for a warden to arrive on site to help the stranded pensioner.

Under the old system, help would have arrived within 60 seconds.

It is these issues, as well as concerns over security with no-one on site at nights, that has forced Mrs Hutchison to reconsider her living arrangements.

She told the Evening News: "I've been here 27 years and I've loved it, as soon as I came into the place I thought it was wonderful.

"But I've never known a change like this, and it frightens me so much. I don't want to leave all my friends here, but I can't stay here anymore. I have no choice now.

"When I think about it too much I have to cry."

It is understood the local authority is saving thousands of pounds by cutting back from three wardens at the complex to just one.

The technology which replaces warden cover, such as motion censors and intercoms, was installed thanks to government grants.

Arthur Gilroy, 69, who has lived there for 19 years, added: "I don't know what it's going to take to change their minds on this, someone to die perhaps?

"And what if there was a fire outwith nine to five? It would be up to the more able bodied of us to get the others out.

"It's complete neglect by the council. We all pay good money for this, which includes warden cover, and it's not like we will get any discounts now."

A similar move to reduce on-site wardens has also taken place in Edinburgh over recent years.

A Midlothian Council spokesman said: "As part of the process of modernising services, support services at Esk Place have been changed.

"Previously a 24/7 warden service had been available for residents. This has now been replaced with a daytime warden service and telecare packages for each household. Unfortunately, there was an incident at 8:30pm on 9 September when a tenant made use of the equipment to summon assistance. There was an unacceptable delay in this call being relayed to our control room.

"We would normally respond to calls within 30 seconds and there was a delay of 17 minutes with this one. We regret the distress caused to the individual involved. Technical problems have been identified."