"Well, they haven't, have they?" I answered.
"They've got a bloomin' sight worse!" Arturo shoved a handheld tablet in front of me and then sauntered off. When I finished reading, I knew he was right.
Let me explain. The full impact of the Coalition cuts has not yet been felt. However, many local authorities are cutting grants to voluntary groups that provide support for the elderly and disabled. Services have been cut to these vulnerable groups. Many mentally ill people are suffering the full effects of this - and more cuts are due in the early part of next year.
In CommunityCare.co.uk (http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/31/10/2011/117681/hike-in-number-of-rough-sleepers-with-mental-health-issues.htm), Jeremy Dunning writes:
Increasing numbers of people with mental health problems are sleeping rough due to cuts to mental health services, homelessness outreach workers have warned.
He continued:
The findings come in a new report from the charity (St Mungo), Battered, Broken, Bereft – Why People Still End Up Rough Sleeping.
A separate survey of 1,500 St Mungo's clients identified that increasing numbers of new residents in emergency shelters have mental health problems. Outreach workers reported that mental health services were raising thresholds for support, denying care to all but the most needy. St Mungo's said that one mental health trust it worked with was cutting 100 in-patient beds and reducing staff numbers in community teams at the same time as the area's local authority was closing four mental health day centres.
So - I visited the St Mungo's site http://www.mungos.org.uk/press_office/1002_battered-broken-bereft-new-rough-sleeping-report
There are some very disturbing facts and figures here! For example Charles Fraser, St Mungo's Chief Executive, said:
The cuts in ‘Cinderella' services such as those supporting people with mental health conditions and domestic violence are of particular concern. As services close, or thresholds for accessing support are raised, some vulnerable people are being left with nowhere to turn with devastating effect. These cuts are proving too costly, both in human terms and in the very real costs of supporting people's recovery from the trauma of rough sleeping.
We know rough sleeping can be prevented if the right support is provided when people need it. People may well be battered, broken and bereft - but we must not abandon them.
Further down the site, various outreach workers make the following comments:
"The cuts to mental health services are meaning more mental health patients are hitting the streets as rough sleepers. The thresholds to accessing inpatient mental health beds and statutory services have been raised to exclude rough sleepers and those with dual diagnosis." Outreach worker - East of England
"[There is an] increase in those discharged from community care support as they no longer meet the matrix for learning disability or mental health, especially personality disorder" Outreach Worker - South East
I read all this with growing unease. The Health and Social Care Bill has not yet passed through the House of Lords. At the present time, there are still some Primary Care Trusts doing their work. Not many GPs have formed themselves into Clinical Commissioning Groups - but already mental health services are having problems. Without the support of voluntary groups whose budgets have been cut, the prospect is that more mentally ill people will end up on the streets!
So - Mr 'silver fox' Lansley, 'Boy David' Cameron and 'Wailing Lad' Clegg - what are you going to do about this? And what about you, 'Bagpuss' Pickles? It's your changes to the local authorities' finances that have caused them to cut services! What are you going to do to remedy the situation?
Of course, if the 'Silent Man' Iain Duncan Smith has his way and cuts benefits to those who misbehave, then the streets will be overflowing with the homeless!
It seems to me - and remember I am only an under stairs cat - that the humans in this Coalition have made a fine old mess of things and that the mess will only get worse. As Arturo whispered in my ear when he saw an elderly lady lying on the pavement near Waterloo: 'You wouldn't treat a dog like that!'
But maybe - the Coalition would!
'Bye'
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