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School Road respite care unit to close
The School Road Respite Unit, based in Brislington, provides seven beds for severely disabled people and is used by some 50 families.
However, at a Bristol City Council cabinet meeting last night the building was described as “not fit for purpose”.
Cllr Brenda Massey praised the “caring and dedicated staff” and said it it was a difficult decision to take. She said she “appreciated the concerns” of the families, but with “only one room with disabled access” and “many people now opting to choose different methods of respite care” they could not find any interested parties to take the building on.
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Deputy Mayor Geoff Gollop said it was not a “decision taken lightly” and, while the decision would save £290,000 a year, he would “never accept financial considerations” unless he felt the unit had to close. He promised the families that “all their needs would be looked after”.
It is proposed instead that School Road be replaced by a Shared Lives scheme for disabled people to be cared for by other families in their own homes.
More than 500 people signed a petition calling on the mayor to “abandon his plans to close” the home claiming, “whilst there are alternatives to this type of respite care on the care market which are being investigated, it takes time for people with learning difficulties to accept change”.
Special needs educational consultant Freja Gregory said: “There is great need for the respite care which School Rd offered for the people with complex needs – physical and learning difficulties. This group have no other choices as it is virtually impossible to find them foster carers to offer respite.
“It may well happen that some families will no longer be able to cope and their disabled young person will have to go into residential care. This will wipe out the savings made by School Road’s closure while causing great distress.”
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