Why we need to listen to the Hillcote families

MOST people would agree that one of the measures of a civilised society is how well it cares for its weakest members.

Nevertheless there are many minority groups in need of our squeezed public funds, and we have to accept that they can’t all have everything they want.

Some things may look, on paper, like easy targets for cuts.

One such is Hillcote, the respite centre in Salisbury for the families of young people with severe disabilities.

Severing this lifeline for a handful of vulnerable citizens won’t make a jot of difference to the vast majority of voters. Many won’t even know it’s happened.

Wiltshire Council and Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group justify its proposed closure by saying that the number of people using Hillcote is in decline.

But if you don’t direct people to the help that’s available they won’t be able to make use of it, and there is evidence that this is what has happened here, presumably because the closure plan was in the offing.

I haven’t visited the centre, in Manor Road, but years ago I spent time at a similar one elsewhere. I left filled with admiration for the people who work with such optimism in these circumstances and for the families who cope with challenges unimaginable to the rest of us.

The last thing the Hillcote families want is to travel across the Plain to Devizes to the only other respite home on offer. If their children, some of whom suffer from fits, are taken ill they’ll be bundled off to hospital in Swindon, making it hugely difficult to visit them.

They are also unconvinced by talk of foster care as an alternative, given the need for adapted housing and specialist equipment.

I know our MP John Glen sympathises, and has voiced “grave concerns” about how fairly they are being treated.

Over the years well-wishers have raised at least £30,000 to equip Hillcote. Their efforts ought not to be dismissed.

The families recognise that it’s an expensive place to run for a small number of users. But within Wiltshire’s fiefdom, Salisbury is the biggest centre of population. At the very least can’t somewhere cheaper be found locally?

On Wednesday at 10.30am the families present their case to the authorities at a public meeting in the Guildhall. They need your support.