FEARS are rife in West Devon that vulnerable people in need of care will slip through the net as home assessments are scrapped in the 'modernisation' of social services. Residents will no longer be able to access help from social services offices in Tavistock and Okehampton but will have to phone a call centre in Barnstaple or Newton Abbot to arrange their care. Devon County Council says the changes, which are part of an integration of health and social care in the county, are to ensure a faster, more responsive service for older adults and people with physical disabilities — but the move has angered local carers and councillors. Carer Gill Gorbutt said personal contact was crucial for elderly and vulnerable people: 'The first point of contact is now going to be by phone and that is how the needs of people are going to be assessed. 'How exactly can anyone see how well people are coping or what their circumstances are without a home visit? 'A lot of elderly people do not have a realistic notion of how they are coping. Talking to someone at a call centre is just not the same.' Mrs Gorbutt said having care workers in the community who could be seen at the Abbey Rise office, at home and in the community, was an effective system. 'To run a system over in Barnstaple without people on the ground. you are making the presumption that everyone who has a need is extremely articulate and literate and completely aware of what they need. 'A lot of people who are old or in crisis are not in that state of mind and are physically not able to sort themselves out.' Manager of the Tavistock Area Support Services Andy Lyle said he was in favour of the amalgamation of health and social care but the loss of frontline staff and home visits was a detrimental step. He said: 'You will never get a true picture of how a person is on the end of a phone. It was Devon County Council's Link-Age Plus report that highlighted the fact that old people do not like using the phone. We can only hope it is a localised number and not an 0845 number.' Chairman of the Tavistock Carers' Group Sylvia Nunn said she understood that there was only one person in the Tavistock social services office that still had their job. She said: 'There are a couple going over to the call centre at Newton Abbot but that's just a waste of all their training. 'People are being deployed to other jobs but in a couple of years' time when this does not work, where will all the experienced staff be?' Borough and town councillor for Tavistock Mandy Govier said this was a reduction in care which would lead to more hospital admissions: 'A lot of people do not want to discuss their most intimate details on the phone. 'Some people will not even be able to make the call and not everybody has a carer who is well enough to make the call or a family member around who can help.' Cllr Govier was also concerned that no-one seemed to be aware that this new system of care management was happening. The Stannary doctors' surgery in Tavistock said it had had no notification of the changes when contacted by the Times. Devon County Council's deputy assistant director for Southern Devon Wendy Price said: 'We have introduced a new way for people to access care, which is quicker and more effective than before. It has cut waiting times for people with simple care needs, and gives more time individually to the people who most need it. 'Local offices in Okehampton and Tavistock will not be closed to the public. Anyone calling in to these offices will be signposted to Care Direct or Care Direct Plus teams, who are very able to resolve most queries immediately and arrange assessments where appropriate. 'The changes we are making will mean that people will get a much faster service.' A spokesman for Devon County said there had not been any job losses to date but the council did know that it would need less staff and this would include a reduction in the number of occupational therapists. He said: 'As with any restructure programme, there has been retraining and redeployment opportunities for staff involved, but the council has a very good retraining and redeployment programme to ensure staff remain employed by the council.'
