Families of disabled face care home closure

Families in Mole Valley have been shocked by plans to close a care home for mentally disabled people. For decades parents have relied on Daffodil House in Reigate to provide respite care for their severely handicapped sons and daughters.This care allows them a break from the strain of looking after a disabled child.

But they were left reeling this week after learning cash-strapped Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust plans to shut the home on January 1. The sudden announcement means the service could only be continued at centres in Epsom, Chertsey and Staines, but it is not yet known whether free transport will operate to these sites.

Harry and Jacqueline Flint, of Dorking, fear they will be unable to send their 36-year-old disabled son to a new centre because they do not have their own transport. Mr Flint, 68, said he was shocked after a letter from the trust landed on his doormat last week announcing the plans. Now the couple face a Christmas desperately seeking a new respite centre for Lee.Otherwise he will have nowhere to go in the New Year.

Mr Flint said: "I was absolutely horrified. I am a pensioner and my wife is not mobile so we are completely stuck. For us to get respite care we have got to go Chertsey or Staines, but I have no transport so there is no way we can do it. The only other option is Epsom and that will be snowed under because it only has about eight beds."

Lee has attended Daffodil House for four days a month for more than a decade, allowing his parents a rest from caring. An ambulance has to taken him to the centre in the past, although it is not clear whether this service will continue under the new proposals.

Mr Flint said: "It is hard enough looking after my child. Lee wakes you up three or four times a night so we are shot to pieces.

"We look forward to it like a holiday, even if it is just four days a month."

Stan Reeves, 76, from Brockham, said he has sent his brain-damaged daughter Wendy,45, to Daffodil House for nearly 20 years. Mr Reeves said: "This has come as an absolute shock. I had no idea they were thinking of closing the home. It was one of those things that you think is going to go on and on and then it hits you. I had already filled in a form for her to stay there next year."

Mr Reeves,of The Borough, said the problem had been made worse because he also has to care for his wheelchair-bound 75-year-old wife. "It is absolutely imperative they keep this open,"he said. "My daughter was born brain damaged because of a lack of oxygen during the birth. She is 45 now with the mental age of a 10-year-old. In the letter that they have sent me they said there is a possibility they will send her to Chertsey, Staines or Epsom, but that is going to be disastrous for us."

Surrey and Borders Primary Care Trust, which provides the service,confirmed the proposed closure of Daffodil House along with another respite centre in Guildford. The trust said the measures were necessary to help plug a £4.4m hole in its budget. A decision to agree the proposal will be made by Surrey and Borders Partnership Trust Board meeting on Thursday, November 30. A spokesman said: "We will be discussing travel arrangements with each family,but we cannot give a concrete answer on transport."