Respite centre for severely disabled children being closed in Reigate Surrey

[TodayIsaw]

I signed a petition today against the closure of the Beeches overnight and emergency respite centre in Reigate. It's funding is being cut by the NHS which claims its is under-used. Before Surrey County Council stopped referring under-10's to the centre, there was a waiting list. Even now, parents say that you don't get referred to this care unless you are absolutely desperate and on your knees, and then it can take months, sometimes 2 years to get a place. Also they actually don't tell parents that it is available and typically parents only find out from friends.

thanks for posting, the petition was quite hard to find on the Surrey county council website

Thanks very much, NinjaGoose, for signing.

My neighbours, whose son goes to the centre, are asking everyone and especially Surrey residents, to sign the petition. I've found the link :

petitions.surreycc.gov.uk/Beechesclosure

Thanks again

petitions.surreycc.gov.uk/Beechesclosure

Will sign - thanks for alerting us to the petition.

they make me sick
they are doing this in our county, being completely obstructive to anyone who needs access to the overnight units and dwindling down people who do access them and I sure it is so they can say 'well it's under used, lets close it' All parents with severe and complex children should be able to access overnight respite, but in our county they say you can only access it if you have a child that doesn't sleep at all (which is ridiculous, because if your child need 24hour care it doesn't matter if they sleep or not!)

Very short sighted of them to close it down unless they have some grand master plan for an alternative which I very much doubt.
It is all very well thinking they can save money this way, but it will cost them more in the long run when families fall apart because they can't cope and parents suffer ill health due to the extra pressures on them.

Why can they not see how much parent/carers are 'saving' them by doing the job they do for the majority of the year, rather than looking at what it costs the NHS to provide a few nights respite per year..?

Thank you for your support.

I know that the parents and carers affected are deeply committed to looking after their children at home. But if they don't get the support they need, and get to breaking point, a few of children may need to go into residential care. Just on a pure financial argument, there needs to be a reality check - the cost of occasional support versus a much higher cost of 24 hour residential care (to say nothing of the emotional cost to the children and their families) Thanks again