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b. 4,481 hours of care a week is the 2010/2011 usage

c. 2,019 hours of care a week are wasted with BCC workers not being

used to care for users.

d. 2,019 hours of care a week wasted is worth 2.9 million a year.

e. That is 8.7 million over the last 3 years.

5. All the while Lib Dems have been increasing the use of private provision.

Bristolians had been told that the increase to the homecare budget was due to

an increased demand. However The previous BCC Director of Health and

Social Care Cathy Morgan exposed the truth in 2009. She observed that in the

previous 12 months.

a. An additional 4,500 hours of care a week were purchased from the

private sector

b. This represented a 35% increase.

c. 2,340 hours of care a week were being wasted with BCC workers not

being used to care for users

6. In my opinion this looks like a deliberate attempt to run down the public

provision for purely ideological reasons. It is scandalous in a time of austerity

that BCC appears to have wasted its own resources to the tune of 8.7 million

in order to pursue the Lib Dem's pet policy.

7. Perhaps most worrying is the discovery in 2006 that private providers have

overcharged BCC by some 931,506 each year (at 2006 rates).

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a. 5 years ago overcharging was discovered

b. 500,000 was put aside to introduce an electronic monitoring system to

end overcharging.

c. This system has not been introduced.

d. Given inflation an estimated 5 million has been overpaid over 5 years.

e. According to BCC the money has not yet been reclaimed as it needs

"careful planning to avoid causing unsustainable cash flow problems

for some providers."

8. Cllr Jon Rogers has been putting a leaflet out in Southmead reassuring voters

that Homecare will be safe with the private providers he plans to use.

9. Lord Mayor and Council I ask you how safe is a system that seems to rely on

massive overpayments which can't be repaid after 30 days on demand? In my

opinion it is not safe at all. This Council should reject calls to further privatise

homecare and make proper use of the in house team.

DARREN LEWIS