1st October 2006
Because of lack of planning by the Liberal Democrat Executive (who run Cardiff Council), the bed blocking crisis is bound to deepen. Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust have said it expected 190 patients to be awaiting transfer to social care from much needed hospital beds in September. Now with the announcement of a serious overspend in the Cardiff Council Adult Services budget this is bound to mean that more patients will stay in hospital when it is more appropriate for them to be in Council care.
After an emergency meeting on Friday afternoon of the senior management team Byron Davies, Chief Executive, said, in an e-mail circulated to all managers and Councillors "Adult Services are facing a serious potential overspend in the current financial year... the scale of the task is such that wider measures are required to assist in reducing the potential overspend through slowing down expenditure across all service areas."
Cllr. Richard Cook, the Labour spokesperson for Social Services said:
"The press coverage of the 190 elderly patients who are languishing in hospitals, unable to move into more suitable care homes, is a demonstration that Cardiff's Adult Services are failing to adequately plan for problems they should know are coming. This recent announcement that Adult Services is facing a serious overspend will make the problem worse."
"What the Liberal Democrats are discovering is that being in charge is difficult, sometimes harsh decisions have to be taken, it's time that they thought of themselves as an administration in charge rather than an opposition griping from the sidelines. The people of Cardiff are beginning to realise that the Lib Dems are spiralling into chaos and it is the Labour Group who have a sound grasp of the financial issues facing the city."
Labour Deputy Leader and Cardiff North Assembly Candidate Sophie Howe added:
"It is bad enough that the Liberal Democrat's inability to manage the budget is going to have a detrimental impact on Council services but the fact that Cardiff and the Vale NHS Trust are having to take measures such as cancelling operations because of Cardiff Council's failure to deliver on social care accommodation is unacceptable."
ENDS
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