Calls for clarity over future of day centres at risk of closure

A group of under-threat Lancashire day centres should be given “the same assurance” about their futures that has been offered to care homes previously in the same position, a councillor has said.

Adam Brierley was responding to an announcement from Lancashire County Council on Thursday that it has “no intention to close” five residential facilities for the elderly which had been placed under review because of concerns about the “significantly poor condition” of their premises.

However, no such pledge was made about five daycare centres that have been going through the same assessment process – Byron View (Colne), Derby Centre (Ormskirk), Milbanke Day Centre (Kirkham), Teal House (Thornton-Cleveleys) and Vale View (Lancaster).

Cllr Brierley, a member of Kirkham Town Council, says that the disparity has left staff working in different services on the same site in the town facing contrasting emotions.

The Milbanke complex, on Station Road, operates both an elderly care home and day centre.   The pair have been the focus of a local campaign calling for them to be protected – but this week’s announcement means there has been happiness in one building and “heartbreak” in the other, Cllr Brierley said.

“The news about the care homes is to be welcomed – residents, staff and families can now sleep at night.  But staff and users of the day centre are now panicking more than ever – they don’t know why they haven’t had the same assurance,” he explained.

Formal decisions on all 10 of the elderly care facilities are expected to be made in April, based on information including the results of a public consultation carried out late last year.

However, the ruling Reform UK group said just over a fortnight ago that it would be investing in the homes in order to quell what it claimed was “scaremongering” about what might happen to them.    This week, it went further, with county council leader Stephen Atkinson ruling out closures during a cabinet meeting.

Asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service why there had been no reference to the five day centres within either of those pledges, County Cllr Atkinson said people should not read anything into it.

“We had to bring forward [the] statement [on the care homes] ahead of time to stop this scaremongering.   The day centers are a different thing to the home you live in – it’s a different magnitude of concern.

“There’s been no decisions made on [the day] centers. It will all come back…at the relevant time,” he added.

However, Cllr Brierley said that that stance was to underestimate the importance of day centres to the people who rely on them – and their families.

“I’ve spoken to people who will have to put relatives into care homes if the day centre shuts.  I know a lady who works full time and whose mother goes to [Milbanke] – and she couldn’t cope if she lost access to that.

“The county council has done the right thing with care homes – now it needs to do the same for the day centres.

“My message to Reform is that if they think the campaign has gone away, we’re not going anywhere until the day centres are also saved,” Cllr Brierley warned.

Byron View and Teal House have already been shut for nearly six years, after closing their doors – and not yet reopening them – at the start of the pandemic in 2020. However, their closures are still officially deemed only as temporary – and their permanent status is subject to the outcome of the ongoing review.