RELATIVES of two people who use the respite bed facility at Mardy Park Resource Centre have expressed their dismay at the cut in the service.

Last week the Chronicle carried a story about Monmouthshire County Council's plans to reduce the number of respite care beds at Mardy Park from six to two because of a drop in demand. But this statement by Julie Boothroyd, head of adult services for the council was queried by two relatives.

The first, who did not wish to be named, said: "If there is no demand why are they assessing everyone on their waiting list at the moment?

"There is a social worker whose job is to go around everyone on their respite list and get all the information.

"The whole of the wing once used for respite beds has already been taken over by social services staff who have been moved from Newbridge House where the offices they used are now advertised for rent. So how can they talk about the wing being used for other health services?

"There is definitely a demand for the beds because we have to book in advance and you cannot always get the week you want but the staff at Mardy Park are absolutely wonderful and always try and fit you in if they can.

"We have heard talk about using the respite service in Monmouth and if they do that it is a journey of 17 miles for relatives to visit and for the person receiving respite care to travel. There is no other respite facility in Abergavenny."

Another relative said she was taken aback when she saw that some of the respite bedrooms had been taken over as offices.

"When he asked was there somewhere suitable if their respite beds were full he was told there is a facility in Chepstow, but that's a 50-mile round trip. In my opinion that is not a very good response to someone who lives in Abergavenny.

"It's very sad because of the wonderful facilities in the purpose built Mardy Park. The staff there are absolutely wonderful and it's so sad. It's obvious that some of them will now lose their jobs."

A spokesman for MCC said, "We have made no changes to the respite wing at Mardy Park since the review started. It is our intention to ensure that any use of the space created is focussed towards the delivery of services to older people in north Monmouthshire, including the delivery of health and social care services.

"Prior to the review, three bedrooms in the respite wing were converted into offices. This was to accommodate staff moving from Newbridge House and was possible because of the under use of the unit's respite care capacity over the previous 12 months. Even with the loss of these three rooms, the unit's respite care services are under used. It is this that has prompted the review. We no longer have any staff based at Newbridge House."

 In a recent report to cabinet it was stated that unit costs are higher than the rate at which this care could be purchased in the independent sector while use of respite care as Mardy Park has been considerably below registered capacity for each of the past three years, averaging 43% of registered capacity over the past 12 months.  This has already enabled three bedrooms to be converted to other uses over the course of the review in line with the vision for the Resource Centre.  There has been no impact on service users.  Staffing levels however have not yet been reduced in line with these changes.