Teviot Day Service Status

It's been a while since our last post, but so much has happened and very few would say that they could have foreseen the situation the whole nation finds itself in right now. Teviot Day Service (TDS) was suspended on 18th March due to COVID-19 and before getting into further details of our update, we hope that everyone is staying safe and well. As a result of the pandemic, there can be no-one left in the country that doesn't realise the importance of and have the utmost appreciation for health, social and care workers, as well as all the other key workers on which society depends. Looking at our own situation as carers and relatives of elderly loved ones, where would we find ourselves without the continuing support of carers in particular? It is hard enough at present with the elderly confined to their homes and unable to participate in the services and activities they had access to before 'lockdown' but it would be so many times harder without the support of carers too - we truly appreciate your help and wish everyone well during these difficult times.

From the end of last year to February, SBC conducted social, personal and carer assessments with the attendees of TDS and their relatives/carers. Without the pressure and challenges to SBC from TDS Support Group, this exercise would not have been undertaken and TDS would most likely have been closed down by end January - that was Robert McCulloch-Graham's provisional 'decommissioning' date in the report presented to SBC's Executive Committee on 4th June 2019 (we've outlined our thoughts on that process in a previous post). Had SBC consulted properly with carers and relatives at the outset of the 'Re-imagining Day Services' project, as they are legally obligated to do, this exercise would and should have been conducted before the preparation of the report presented to Executive Committee. We can only speculate as to why carers/relatives have not been properly consulted with to determine whether closure of Day Services in the Scottish Borders is the correct strategy. What we do know is that the outcome of the assessments are universal in their recommendation that our loved ones continue to absolutely require TDS as there is currently no alternative, equivalent or better service available in Hawick. This is something we have stated and re-iterated constantly, as have several of our local Councillors, to SBC officials since we first became aware of SBC's intentions in March 2019. These aren't just our words - here are just a couple of examples of the conclusions taken directly from some of the assessments conducted:

There is no alternative other than TDS which can provide this level of support at this moment in time. 

It is my recommendation at present that <attendee> remains at TDS as there is not a suitable alternative. 

If the opportunity to attend TDS were to be removed, the risks to both <attendee> and <relative> would dramatically change as this level of support and stimulation could not be provided in the community. The LAC (Local Area Co-ordinator) has stated that there are no services within the town that would replicate the type of specialist support required by <attendee>.

The significance of these conclusions cannot be underlined enough - these are the conclusions of SBC employees who work in the Hawick community and have conducted these assessments. Clearly there is a significant disconnect between those based at SBC HQ and SBC professionals who are actively involved in social care in Hawick. Why weren't these professionals engaged and consulted with much earlier in the project, rather than only when SBC management officials had no choice due to the pressure of our small campaign group identifying the fundamental flaws and oversights in the 'Re-imagining Days Services' project. It is a travesty that 6 of the 7 Day Services in the Scottish Borders have already been closed and perhaps it is significant that the only one remaining is TDS, the only one where relatives/carers have gathered together as a group and challenged SBC on their statutory obligations to properly consult with those impacted before making decisions to close down services.

We would actually like to hear from people elsewhere in the Borders who have been adversely affected by the closure of the Day Service in their area. Please do email us as a precedent has already been set elsewhere in Scotland for successfully challenging a local authority which closed down a Day Service and were found to have been in breach of their legal and statutory obligations. If you know of someone who has been adversely affected by a Day Service in the Borders, please send this on to them and ask them to contact us.

Until the next post, stay safe and well everyone.