STUART MCDONALD MP PROTESTS CLOSURE OF WHITEHILL DAY CENTRE

​Kirkintilloch East MP Stuart McDonald has written to East Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership to call for a rethink of plans to close Whitehill Day Care and Short Break Service in Kirkintilloch.  The MP attended at the centre on Friday where he spoke with staff.
 
Originally the new Whitehill Court development at Cleddens was to include new facilities for the day care centre.  However, late last year the Health and Social Care partnership announced a change of plan – with service users being moved instead to a service in Birdston Day Care.
 
Stuart McDonald said:
 
“I’ve been contacted by a number of constituents with family members who are regular users of the day care centre, and also by staff who are very concerned about what these changes mean for those they have been caring for over many years.  I know these concerns are shared by others in both the public and third sector as well as in the wider community.
 
“The health and social care partnership engaged in absolutely no consultation with either staff, the community or families who use the services.  It has simply been sprung upon everyone.  Whitehill has an excellent reputation, with capacity to support dementia sufferers, including severe cases, which other providers would struggle to match. I also have serious questions about whether it is wise for day care and short breaks to be totally dependent on a single private provider for the whole of the east side of East Dunbartonshire.
 
“For all these reasons I am writing to the partnership to ask them to reconsider, and at the very least engage with families and staff about what they are proposing.  Everyone was excited about the new facilities, and suddenly instead the service is being closed”.