MP backs 'Save Birch Tree' campaign
NORTH West Norfolk MP Henry Bellingham is urging health chiefs to recognise the exceptional circumstances at Birch Tree Close and save the bungalows from closure.
Mr Bellingham said: "I have been in touch with the Norfolk PCT and the health minister asking them to look in more detail at what I think are the special circumstances of Birch Tree Close.
"What we have in Lynn does not fit the pattern of what the Government thinks should be closed and I think the PCT should be looking at each of these facilities on their on merit rather than one size fits all."
The Birch Tree bungalows, which offer full-time and respite care, form part of the Park View Resource Centre which opened in 1989 to provide adults with learning difficulties a "one-stop shop" where all their needs could be met under one roof.
The centre, which provides 24 beds in six fully-adapted bungalows, was designed to allow people with learning difficulties to live in a "family home" while receiving specialist care.
The Government wants to bring people with learning disabilities in to the community, but parents feel the centre, which is just minutes from the town centre, bus station and hospital, is already ideally located.
Health bosses also claim it will allow residents greater independence and choices in their care, but many residents, including Tracey Butt (43) who is profoundly disabled, will never be able to take advantage of either benefit.
The closure of NHS "campuses" was welcomed by disabilities charity Mencap, but the West Norfolk branch is backing Birch Tree Close and has offered its support to Mr and Mrs Butt in their plans to start a petition.
Chairman Mrs Marie Brown, said: "We are very concerned about what is to be offered to the people who are at Birch Tree Close. We support the parents who are concerned where their sons and daughters will be moved to.
"It seems to be an excellent facility in the town centre and I can't think of anywhere more community-based than in the town."
Mr Tim O'Rourke, business manager for Norfolk learning difficulties services, said: "The NHS campuses have, with the best will in the world, an institutional feel, which is intrinsic to the actual buildings and could not easily be changed. Most of these were built to accommodate six or more in-patients, which is too high a number, and which adds to the problem.
"Our intention, therefore, is to enable the people involved to move on to more suitable and homely accommodation in smaller numbers with care and support services more tailored to their individual needs than is currently the case.
"I need to emphasise, given concerns expressed to date, that the people involved will continue to receive the high levels of care and support in their new accommodation that they currently receive. Work will be carried out to ensure that the properties that people move into are fully accessible and relevant to their needs."Nineteen years later, ideas have moved on as our shared awareness of disability equality issues develops and improves, and there is now a general consensus among organisations working with and on behalf of people with learning difficulties that services need to change and move on also.
"This is reflected in the Government's directive that all NHS learning difficulty campuses will have closed down by 2010. People with learning difficulties do not need to live in hospital accommodation as in-patients when they can just as easily live in homes of their own in the community, provided that they receive the right level of care and support."
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Weather for King's Lynn
Sunday 27 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
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