A public meeting will be held in Enniskillen tonight (Tuesday) to call for accountability over the recent admission by the Western Trust that it has been underfunding adult learning disability services for “the past couple of years.”
It remains unclear how long the underfunding has been going on. The Trust came clean about an £8 million deficit “over the past couple of years”, but local carers believe that the underspend amounts to millions and has been going on for over a decade. They believe that one quarter of the annual budget for adult learning disability has been spent on other areas of the health service.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg. We believe that a decade of disabled children have been neglected,” said Caroline Wheeler, one of the founding members of the South West Carers’ Forum (SWCF).
“Elaine Way (Chief Executive of the Western Trust) should know where every penny is being spent; why has this been going on for so long?” added Maureen McGerty. Maureen “had to fight” for the seven hours per week of direct payments she receives to help her care for her 18-year-old daughter Aoife, who has Down’s syndrome.

Maureen adds: “It is incumbent on the Chief Executive of the Western Trust to be open and honest and to explain why this action was taken over a number of years; to inform us who did benefit from that £8 million; and to explain how the Trust will compensate those families who have been out of personal pocket. These people can’t speak up for themselves so we have to speak up for them.
“It is us who know our children. We always have to fight for these children and that has been very frustrating.
“It’s time for action. We would like an independent audit of the Trust to find out what’s going on.
“We are disgusted with the £2.3 million this year.”

Caroline Wheeler is also mother and full time carer of 32-year-old Lee, who suffers from an extremely rare syndrome - Diploid Triploid Mosaicism. 
“The hardest job to do in society is 24-7 care. Imagine being handed a new born baby for 32 years – you never get to take your foot off the pressure plate until you can hand over that responsibility to someone you trust," she commented. "That requires Person Centred Payments, that allow families to take charge of the care their child requires as opposed to financial met need which disempowers people.

“These children only want to be respected as human beings but when people make decisions above our heads it disempowers them. Lee now works one hour a week in the hospital canteen. He lives for that one hour. 
“We need expert assessors, not a social worker who has 30 minutes to assess someone’s life by ticking a box.
“At Tuesday night’s meeting we will want accountability as to why our needs were not met locally.”

Independent Councillor Raymond Farrell added: “Like many people I am greatly concerned at the gross underfunding which runs into millions of pounds for learning disability services in the Western Trust. How long this has gone on for is a significant question and while I understand that extra resources have recently been given to the Trust their still remains a significant deficit.

“I have held discussions with a senior representative of the Trust to express both my concerns and the concerns of constituents.
“A plan needs to be put in place and this plan must involve carers and advocates who have had to suffer in terms of the cash shortfall. Appropriate funding could improve staffing, infrastructure and services and indeed I believe this puts an entirely new perspective in services to meet the needs of Creamery House in Kesh.”

Last week, the Western Trust said: “Over the past couple of years the extent of a deficit in investment in learning disability services in the Western Trust has been confirmed by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) and the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB). The deficit has been quantified as £8 million.”

The HSCB has completed a review into underspend and, in the year examined, there was underfunding of £8 million.
The HSCB report has not been published and, when contacted by The Impartial Reporter this week, the Western Trust refused to specify in what year there was an £8 million underspend or address queries in relation to whether there has been an historical underspend.

A spokeswoman for the SWCF explained: “The Western Trust has now informed a number of carers who represent families of adults with learning disability within the Trust area that the HSCB report has identified that there has been consistent underfunding over a number of years in adult learning disability services amounting to at least £8 million per year. Since this [deficit] was confirmed the Western Trust has worked with the commissioner of services at the HSCB to address this issue. The Western Trust is pleased that an additional investment of £2.3 million has been received for this financial year, which will go some way to close this deficit.” 

Local carers are demanding “compensation for years of underfunding in order to edress the detrimental effect of this underfunding across respite services, day care, social work support, autism services and family support.”