Day Centres in Montgomeryshire provide a vital service and must stay open according to Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, Russell George.
Mr George will be again visiting three Day Centres next week, in Llanidloes, Machynlleth and Newtown. On Monday, he will visit Maes Y Wennol (Llanidloes) and Crossroads in Machynlleth and he will also visit the Park Street Day Centre on Tuesday alongside Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Social Services, Suzy Davies AM.
The visits come ahead of Powys County Council's cabinet meeting next Tuesday when an outcome on the future of day centres is expected to be decided.
In advance of his visits, Mr George said:
"There is deep-seated concern at the detrimental impact which the potential closure of Day Centres could have on some of the most vulnerable residents in our community.
"I have previously visited all of the day centres across Montgomeryshire and am looking forward to meeting the staff and users again next week, alongside my colleague, Suzy Davies AM.
"Day Centres offer an invaluable community service which allow their users to continue living independently and therefore the present provision can, in many cases, help to prevent the need for care home or further support. It would therefore be a tragedy if any centre closed and I am supporting the campaign to keep the centres open.
"The provision of facilities such as safe bathing facilities and a hot meal as well as activities including singing, exercises and a range of specific health services such as the provision of flu vaccine all serve to promote people's wellbeing and stop people's care needs from escalating.
"This also eases pressure on families who provide dedicated care to users, providing much needed respite to carers, an issue which is often overlooked when it comes to the provision of adult social services."
Mr George attended a public meeting on October 25th, with more than 150 people in attendance, to hear about plans contained within Powys County Council's consultation on Day Time Activities for Older People, which closed on 9th November.
Mr George responded to the consultation and added:
"In my view, the accessibility and openness of the consultation into the potential closure of council-run day centres in Montgomeryshire has been compromised with such a great focus on online participation. As a result, the consultation hasn't sufficiently taken into account the views of those who may be less digitally literate; those very people who are most likely to access to services offered by the Day Centres in question.
"Furthermore, if the view of Powys County Council's senior management and cabinet is that the alternative options for day time activities will result in an improved service, then I would suggest that these options are implemented prior to any decision on the future of our day centres.
"I firmly believe that no day centre should be closed until the local health board has carried out a full impact assessment on what the consequences will be on other health services in Powys, including the extra demand that would be then likely to be placed on GP practices."