Demand for answers over Thor House in Thurso continues despite promise to restore respite care
Highland Council is being pressed to give more details about its recent announcement that it is to reinstate respite care at Thor House in Thurso.
Community representatives have guardedly welcomed the move to restore the service for families with disabled children.
But they want to know when it will happen and what funding has been committed.
A local pressure group has meanwhile claimed the system for assessing schoolchildren with special needs is at breaking point.
Highland Council revealed the outcome of a lengthy review into the suspension of respite at Thor House in a brief press release last week.
Thurso Community Council chairwoman Thelma Mackenzie said it first took up the issue three-and-a-half years ago and remains in the dark about why the four-bedroom unit was redeployed to care for looked-after children following the closure of Avonlea in Wick.
“We’re still trying to get to the bottom of what happened,” she said at Tuesday’s meeting. Local Highland councillor Matthew Reiss said members were not informed about the moves to close Avonlea or suspend the short-stay respite care at Thor House.
He said: “The latest announcement from the council is hopeful. I’ve asked for a guarantee that it involved overnight respite care and the answer appears to be ‘Yes’.”
He has not been able to establish what, if any, funding has been earmarked for it.
Councillor Reiss said he understands that giving a firm timescale could be “tricky” given that alternative accommodation needs to be found for the current residents. Councillor Reiss was among the members who unsuccessfully sought an independent review of the closure of Avonlea and the suspension of respite at Thor House.
Related articles:
• Victory for local pressure groups seeking respite care in Caithness
• Caithness respite care: Demand for answers over Thor House and Avonlea
• Bid to get independent review into closure of Avonlea children’s home in Wick fails
Council colleague Struan Mackie said it is important that lessons are learned from the affair.
Elizabeth Jones, who founded Caithness and Sutherland Respite Campaign, said the local authority has a legal duty to provide a respite service for children assessed in need of it.
Ms Jones, who has two young autistic children, said she had been looking into seeking a judicial review into the indefinite suspension of the service.
She questions the authority’s commitment to restoring it.
“I don’t think they are being serious about it at all,” she said. “They are just being backed into a corner.” Ms Jones previously accused the council of withdrawing the service by stealth.
She claimed the system to assess children with special needs is struggling to cope with the demand. She said: “They can’t cope with the backlog. I’d say the assessment system has collapsed.
“Disability services are crashing left, right and centre.”
Ms Jones and other families with children with additional support needs were hit by a new blow earlier this year after the Wick-based charity, No Limits Caithness, pulled the plug on its daycare service.
In response to queries about the timings and costs of restoring the respite service at Thor House, a Highland Council spokesperson referred to its original press release.
That stated: “The process and procedures around this will take time - including registration with the Care Inspectorate.
“As this will take time to conclude, a timeline is difficult to predict.
“Regular updates on progress will be provided to relevant stakeholders.”
