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Care cuts leave families facing 'uncertain future'

Rachel Bell and Ken Banks
BBC Scotland
BBC Woman holding a sign which says 'kill the cuts not the people'.BBC
Protests were held ahead of the social care meeting

Cuts are to be made to services for adults with learning disabilities in Aberdeenshire.

Eight projects will close as part of efforts to find £17m of savings at Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership (AHS) this year.

Day centres will stay open, but fewer people will be eligible to attend, while social care transport is to be cut almost entirely.

The board overseeing AHS said services would not be removed until alternative provision was found, but families said they were faced with uncertainty.

Aberdeenshire Integration t Board (IJB) said changes had to be made or it risked the financial stability of AHS.

The s Commission warned earlier this year that the financial position of all Scotland's IJBs was "precarious".

During a meeting in Aberdeen on Wednesday, Aberdeenshire IJB decided to end the use of buses and taxis to take people to services.

Board also halved the number of activity hubs for older people and opted to outsource the vast majority of at-home care.

Woman - Charlene Anderson Coltherd - wearing a blue t-shirt and looking a camera, with a council building in the background.
Charlene Anderson Coltherd said the situation was "really stressful"

Families gathered outside the meeting to protest against the cuts.

Charlene Anderson Coltherd, whose 18-year-old daughter Erin attends a day centre in Fraserburgh, said: "Even though we've been told she'll keep her place, we're quite apprehensive about what that place will look like because we don't think that is going to be the same as it is now.

"She really thrives there.

"It's been really stressful. We can't sleep at night. What kind of service is going to be left for them":[]}