Day care facility in Pershore to close (From Evesham Journal)

Day care facility in Pershore to close

6:59pm Thursday 28th February 2013 in News By Sarah Taylor

A PERSHORE day care centre is to close after people stopped using it amid claims the service was not up to scratch.

The Sanctuary Care day centre will holds its last session on Thursday, March 21, following a steady decline in numbers since it moved to the Wychavon District Council offices in January last year.

The care facility, which was previously held at Heathlands Care Home next door to the council offices, was due to close but was saved after an outcry by users and their families, who branded the service a lifeline.

Now just a year later people have stopped using the service and there have been claims the facilities at its new home were not good enough and activities not stimulating for users.

At a Pershore town council meeting on Thursday Councillor Mervyn Payne said: “The toilet facilities aren’t good. They have to go down a corridor to get to the toilet and sometimes there was only one member of staff and they couldn’t take people to the toilet.

“They would bring food from Heathlands that was cold by the time they got it. Who does want to go to a place like that?”

Reverend Mark Jennings added: “A member of the congregation for whom I am Power of Attorney opted to go to Yates Court in Evesham because it wasn’t stimulating enough.”

After it moved to Wychavon District Council the service was held in a room named after Pershore stalwart John Smith.

County Councillor Liz Tucker said she hoped another way could be found to record his services to the town.

Vic Allison, Deputy Managing Director at Wychavon said: “We stepped in to offer a space for the day centre and invested to provide a high quality facility. We're very sorry that Sanctuary are having to stop the service, we did all we could to provide a nice environment at the Civic Centre.”

Len Merton, Director of Care for Sanctuary, confirmed the closure. He said: “Unfortunately, despite our heavy investment and work to promote the day centre, demand for its services have continued to decline and we have now reached the point where it is no longer feasible to continue.”