Decision details

The Director, Public Health, Protection & Community Services provided Members with his report which proposed a focussed consultation be undertaken with service users and the local communities of the remaining Community Day Centres to inform a subsequent decision on their future.

The  Director advised that the Council’s Community Day Centres have provided an important opportunity for older people within the communities of RCT to access a hot meal each week day and participate in a range of activities that help tackle social isolation and loneliness. However, numbers of meals provided are declining slowly each year and on  the evidence of the small number of service users it could reasonably be argued that the existing model no longer caters for the needs of the majority of older people.  The Director continued by advising of the  proposal  to undertake a six week focussed consultation with service users and the local communities on the future of the remaining four Community Day Centres (excluding Alec Jones Day Centre which is subject to a separate consultation), exploring opportunities for alternative service delivery models either through the developing Community Hub model where appropriate or through existing third sector organisations located in the communities concerned.

The Cabinet Member for  Adult Community Services & Welsh Language welcomed the consultation opportunity commenting that it was important for the Council to deliver services that were appropriate for the community and for the future generations to come, allowing provision to move and reflect the times that we live in.

It was RESOLVED:

1.    To approve a six week focussed consultation with service users and the local communities on the future of the remaining four Community Day Centres.

2.    That a further report on the outcome of the consultation exercise with recommendations concerning the Community Day Centres is presented to Cabinet for consideration.

 (N.B. At this juncture in the meeting County Borough Councillor M Weaver left the meeting.)