Some councils have responded to the Coronavirus crisis by putting into place some support for disabled people to access food (help with shopping or meals), to provide them with PPE, or a cover for Direct Payments care workers, but many have not done so. DPAC is asking you to respond to this blog by answering 2 questions if your council is not supporting you:
1) Name of the council
2) Gap(s): food, PPE or cover for DP care workers, (all 3 if it is the case), or anything else missing
We will write to your council CEO to highlight the gaps in the provision of services for disabled people in this time of crisis. In the meantime, you can find here the list of all the Council contact details (email address, Twitter, Facebook), or here the List of council CEO so that you can also raise these issues directly with them
Derby City Council
Camden council.
Failure to put in care packages agreed
Failure to offer to transfer to direct payments when ppl have asked
Stopped ALL MH care packages
Failing to prioritise disabled residents unable to self isolate without a care package ( in some cases leaving them homeless and at severe risk)
Failure to ensure severely vulnerable disabled persons access to food packages now food bank closed where referral needed
Council could as a start have used their own vulnerable tenants register, the statutory registers on learning disability , those the housing benefits service know claim highest rates of disability benefits..
They haven’t drawn from ANY of these
Failure to use the coding GPs and MH Trusts have for serious mental illness and cross and add to list.
When they know MH Trust has completely closed it’s doors so NO clients getting support.
Just complete failure in duty of care owed
They already hold multiple lists of disability
They just more focused on meeting as little need as financially possible
Cumbria County Council – I’ve had a phone call from my social worker with a list of places to try for food. I am permanently housebound and on the vulnerable list rather than the extremely vulnerable list.
My social worker is aware that I’ve been housebound for years with no exceptions and cannot get any supermarket deliveries – I have been trying for weeks now. Some places on the list from my social worker were offering click and collect only. Relying on mutual aid and local charities was suggested.
They were unable to help with alcohol cleaner for hard surfaces or hand sanitizer.
Cumbria County Council have also failed to provide any home care since before this happened – I have been on their waiting list unsuccessfully since July 2019.
Monday, 6 Th April
An update on my previous comment on this about Norwich City Council, I have just received a phone call from them this morning, ran through some questions & they will help with getting my repeat medication collected. They also offered to call me once a week, to see if I needed any assistance. Though I still think it should have started earlier, I’m relieved that something is happening.
Cardiff Council and the Welsh government are providing nothing for disabled people who even when bed bound do not fit in to their very small ‘shielding’ category.
Neither are even mentioning UNpaid Carers and even the name Carer has been stolen to be used for and by PAID Care Workers.
Our MP recently posted a propaganda post that stated that a Welsh government page would give information for those who believed they should have received a ‘shielding notice’ and had not. It basically said ‘You are out of luck’ with no information on any means of contact let alone appeal.
Deliveries are now being restricted to the ‘listed vulnerable’ and this seems to be extending from food to pharmacies in the near future.
Geting’s comment when interviewed was ‘just because people think they are vulnerable it doesn’t mean they are’. Worse than BoJo and his cronies, how this disablist bigot ever got elected as a socialist is unfathomable.
Norwich City Council, are appalling general in supposed “normal times”, you speak to so many, see so many poor reviews, they fobbed me off by moving me into a flat with a wet room, had ongoing issue with damp & blamed me when I raised it. That’s just a flavour of how bad they are.
Thursday, 2 Nd April a letter from them arrived, addressed to the “householder” & this is 2 weeks into the isolation. You are asked, if in need of help, to call a number, which turns out to be Norfolk County Council. They ask some questions, ask if you are ok for next 7 days, what do you next need help with. I said I would need my repeat prescriptions collected in about a week. They will pass this info on to the city council, who will be in touch Bearing in mind what I’ve said about the city council, does this give you any confidence. I have none in what they will do. Also they asked me to complete a form last year, (I didn’t have to) confirming that I needed concessions in place dealing with council & any of its contractors. I said I needed more time to answer the door/phone/retaining info. They will hold this for up to 3 years with my agreement. So why not use that to reach out to me, likely I might need help in this coronavirus situation??
Dundee City Council
04-04-20 Website still not up and running
03-04-20 Called the council. Got shunted from one individual to another.
Till I was returned to the original answerer. They then hung up
I have had no information at all from East Riding of Yorkshire Council – it appears that they have nothing in place for DP people. There’s also nothing on the website.