Clear

This morning, at the request of the jannie who would otherwise have had to spend tomorrow doing it himself, a community effort assembled at our local day centre. About 20 of us arrived with shovels and brushes to clear a way for staff and service users to get to the centre. Like so many other services such as schools it’s been closed for a few days because of the snow. There has (rightly) been a lot of media coverage of the efforts which have been made to keep the NHS going during the snowstorms. Social care is equally important but as we know it doesn’t get nearly as much in the way of funding, attention or admiration. If the way into the centre, and the car park at the back, hadn’t been cleared today the centre would have had to remain closed tomorrow to the detriment of the people who use its services and their family carers.

It wasn’t too hard to clear the snow because there’s a bit of a thaw going on. It was actually quite good fun and it felt like a great thing to do. But, it’s hugely disappointing that this service wasn’t a priority to keep going. Over the years I’ve done a lot of thinking, a bit of writing and even some very limited publishing about the family carers of and advocates for people who have complicated social care requirements so this doesn’t surprise me. But, as always, it disappoints ...