Valerie Band House: therapeutic workshop.

STATES OF JERSEY

VALERIE BAND HOUSE: THERAPEUTIC WORKSHOP

Lodged au Greffe on 18th May 2011 by Deputy G.P. Southern of St. Helier

STATES GREFFE

2011   Price code: B  P.80

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

to request the Minister for Health and Social Services not to proceed with the closure  of  the  occupational  therapy  services  provided  at  the  workshop  at Valerie Band House until current clients and equipment can be transferred to a new workshop at Acorn Enterprises, Howard Davis Farm.

DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER

REPORT

Valerie Band House is a therapeutic workshop which designs and fabricates windows, doors, tables, shutters or in fact almost anything made of wood. These are often unique designs custom built to fit individual situations. They also have a renovation service for furniture etc.

The  workshop  is  staffed  by  independent  living  mental  health  patients,  currently limited to 8 because of health and safety considerations. Many of the clients have been engaged in this therapeutic employment scheme for several years. They have become highly skilled in the use of machinery within the workshop and they manufacture products to a high standard.

The staff are paid a therapeutic wage of £2 per hour and were, until recently, working 5 mornings per week. This has been reduced to 3 mornings per week because of the retirement  of  the  occupational  therapist  who  undertook  the  supervisory  role.  The current manager of the shop is a community occupational therapy technician who divides his time between the workshop and his community work. No back up is provided within the Occupational Therapy department for annual leave or other time off by the OT Workshop Manager. When he takes time off the shop has to close.

The workshop was founded by a donation from the father of Valerie Band, a patient at St. Saviour 's Hospital, some 25 years ago (see Appendix).

The workshop shop is on notice to close by 24th June 2011. No suitable replacement facilities have been provided for the staff to move on to. Their roles will cease. The staff, who suffer from a range of mental health problems, have been made extremely anxious by this fundamental change to their support regime and as a consequence have contacted me to express their concerns. All of the group have suggested that the alternatives they have been offered are not unsatisfactory.

There is a strong likelihood that if the staff of this particular facility are stood down, without suitable alternative occupational therapy of similar type, their mental health will deteriorate. This may result in some of these individuals becoming once again full time burdens on one area or another of States services, be that social services, hospital in-patients or other. The longer term costs of such an outcome would far exceed any savings predicted. In fact the answer given by the Assistant Minister for Health and Social Services on 17th May 2011 suggests that the workshop will remain open and that the savings indicated in CSR documents will not be achieved anyway.

Acorn Enterprises are doing similar work in renovating wooden furniture and will be having new and larger premises built at Howard Davis Farm. The intention has been to move the machinery to this new facility to bring these therapeutic activities together under one roof. However, the building is not expected to be ready for 18 months.

It appears that the desire of the health department to meet its CSR targets for 2011, rather than put in place a staged and sensible merging of this scheme with that to be developed by Acorn Enterprises, the department has rushed this closure. For the sake of an 18-month delay, the department has put the health of these clients at risk.

The total cost of running the facility is £60,000. Staff advise that sales generate some £15,000 annually resulting in a proposed saving of £45,000 in CSR proposals.

In the Health and Social Services Business Plan 2011, this change to the service was listed on page 15 as "Redesign services at Valerie Band House" with a saving of £45,000.

In the material presented in the CSR proposals, the closure proposal was listed as –

"HSS S10  Redesign OT Services".

In answers to questions posed by the Health, Social Security and Housing Scrutiny Panel on 13th July 2010 the department responded as follows –

"ADULT MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE (0.5 FTE):

• Which therapeutic interventions will be reduced as a result of this staff cut?

The  Occupational  Therapy  Assistant  post  that  currently  provides woodwork activity for a small group of clients at the St. Saviour 's Hospital site will cease. These clients will be offered alternative OT activity within existing services.  There have been ongoing health and safety issues within the OT workshop which has precluded other potential  clients  from  taking  up  OT  activities  there.  The  current postholder retired over 2 years ago but has continued to be retained on 6 monthly rolling contracts whilst alternative activities can be found for this client group.

• Please show the documented evidence that informs this decision.

All templates relating proposed schemes are currently being updated but are available."

The key phrase here is the assurance that "these clients will be offered alternative OT activity within existing services". The reality is that suitable therapeutic activity has not been on offer. The repeated use of the word "redesign" has hidden the reality that what is proposed is the closure of this therapeutic service leaving clients at risk of worsening mental health and possible breakdown.

In the longer term there is an intention for the property (Valerie Band House) and surrounding properties (which include nursing accommodation) to be sold off for £3 million to a developer. However, there is a covenant on the site, believed to be from 1886. This is likely to cause significant delays to any development. It cannot therefore be sensibly argued that there is any urgent need to close down this facility.

Financial and manpower implications

An 18-month stay of execution in closing this therapeutic facility would result in a maximum additional spend on £67,000 as outlined above, but this figure may not be realised if the workshop remains open as indicated by the answers given on 17th May 2011. There are no manpower considerations.

APPENDIX

HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE 2nd October 1996

Mental Health  14.  The  Committee,  with  Ms.  G.  Rattle,  Senior  Occupational Sheltered  Therapist  in  attendance,  considered  a  summary  report  from  the Workshop –  Mental Health Sheltered Workshop Manager, in connexion with the relocation  relocation of the Workshop to Maison des Vaux, a former residential report  unit.

58/33/1(4)

The  Committee  was  informed  that  the  premises  which  presently C.E.  housed  the  Mental  Health  Sheltered  Workshop  had  become M.O.H.  restrictive due to an increased number of clients wishing to use the

facility and the increased demand for production of furniture since

the  opening  of  the  retail  outlet,  Wood  n  Wheels.  The  Jersey

Association  for  Mental  Health  had  become  the  recipient  of

approximately £30,000 from the estate of Mrs. Valerie Band and had

supported the request to complete all necessary work at Maison des

Vaux, in order that three sheltered work activities could be housed

under  one  roof.  The  project  was  nearing  completion  and  the

Committee approved the name Valerie Band House' for the new

workshop  building,  in  recognition  of  the  generosity  of  the  late

benefactor.

The Committee expressed appreciation for the hard work of those involved in the scheme.