A BANGOR centre providing support for adults with learning disabilities has been saved from closure.
The charity and social enterprise The Orchardville Society has stepped in to provide training places for 50 local adults with learning disabilities from the beginning of April.
The South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust has confirmed Orchardville will take over the provision of the Promote Day Opportunities Service on April 1st.
Local families have welcomed this ‘very positive’ step forward after they were left reeling by last month’s ‘out of the blue’ announcement by Action Mental Health (AMH) that the centre would close on March 31.
AMH had provided the service for the past 15 years but announced in January the centre would have to close due to ‘budgetary pressures’. It later emerged the charity was facing a £100,000 funding shortfall, 25% of the £400,000 annual running costs.
The Trust has now pledged to ‘work quickly’ with Orcharville and AMH to agree transitional arrangements and to engage with families and service users to ‘ensure a seamless transition for our Promote Service users’.
The confirmation that Orchardville will take over the centre in the weeks ahead ends weeks of agonising uncertainty and anxiety for local families, some of whom had loved ones availing of the service for over 20 years.
However local families were determined to save the centre as they believed there were no alternative suitable places in the borough for their adult children, many of whom have complex needs.
They rallied together and set up a campaign group, winning the support of many elected representatives including North Down MP Stephen Farry and Strangford MP Jim Shannon.
The families called for an urgent meeting with the Trust after AMH’s closure announcement. At the start of that meeting they played a powerful video they had created which showed how the service provides an opportunity for some of the most vulnerable in society to meet together to learn and socialise where they feel safe and happy.
The families’ campaign won the support of the local community with nearly 5,000 people signing a petition calling for the centre closure to be stopped as parents shared their fears for their children’s futures, their happiness and mental well-being.
Martin Bradley, a spokesman for the Promote family group whose 25 year-old son Joshua has attended the centre for the past six years, has said the families were ‘highly optimistic’ for the centre’s future.
The local father said: “It is great news. We are having a further meeting with the trust, Orchardville and the parents on Friday to get an update on the transition and the staff arrangements.
“It is looking very positive, we are highly optimistic that we will just transition over on April 1st. We are delighted the trust has taken these steps.”
Mr Bradley had stressed that there were no alternative services that would suit the complexity and array of their loved ones’ requirements. He said their sole objective had been to keep the centre open, in the current building with the staff, which is a ‘continued part of our loved ones’ family and home’.
He had said that retaining staff had been an ‘integral’ part of the campaign as it ‘took a long time to build up the trust’ between the staff and the clients.
A Trust spokeswoman confirmed that an alternative provider had been found.
“The Orchardville Society has confirmed that it will take over the Promote contract from Action Mental Health on April 1st. The South Eastern Trust will now work quickly with Orchardville and Action Mental Health to agree transitional arrangements.
“The Trust will engage with families and services users and Action Mental Health staff this week. This is welcome news for all concerned and we will now work together to ensure a seamless transition for our Promote service Users.”
