A DISABLED chairman of a residents' committee says cutting support workers in their Bexleyheath sheltered housing is like "sentencing some of the residents to death".

Chris Dickason, 60, has been chairman of Sherbrook Close’s residents' committee for three years and says support workers are a “necessity”.

Sherbrook Close is managed by London and Quadrant (L and Q) Housing Trust and Avante provides two healthcare support workers to its 38 residents.

But Avante will stop providing support in L and Q sheltered housing schemes across Bexley in April due to lack of funding.

Mr Dickason, who has been disabled for 11 years, said: “We’ve worked all our lives and paid all our taxes and now we feel we are being abandoned.

“It’s not a privilege to have support workers, it’s a necessity.

“These cuts and changes in my opinion are sentencing some of the residents to death.

“We had an example last week with a diabetic gentleman.

“The support officer came and could not wake the gentleman who is severely disabled and had started going into a diabetic coma.

“She used her training and saved the gentleman’s life - that is how important they are.”

Bridie Toal, 81, moved into Sherbrook Close two and a half years ago after her husband died.

The grandmother-of-three said: “We are all upset.

“We value someone to call on, and now, all of a sudden, they won’t be there.

“We do not feel safe anymore.

“We have a pull cord you can pull if you’re worried, but you don’t want to be pulling it all the time, we’d rather have someone here.

“It’s nice also if you do not have family who live nearby, you have people to support you.”

Jean Steele, 68, says she has benefitted from the support workers’ care.

The mother-of-one said: “Last year the support workers helped me after I came out of hospital from mental illness.

“I’m not as old as some of the residents here but when you think that someone is here to support you and then they’re not, it’s terrible.”

Janet Maleed, 66 lives in Sherbrook Close with her husband and says she is concerned for the support workers.

The mother-of-three said: “We are fighting to keep our services but we are also fighting for them to keep their jobs.

“A lot of them have been given redundancy papers. They have families to support.

“It affects them as much as it affects us.”

Avante's response

AVANTE chairman Cedric Frederick said: “Changes in funding aimed at providing residents with greater choice and control in the delivery of the support they receive, have resulted in Avante Community Support being unable to maintain the service at Sherbrook Close and a number of other supported living schemes.

“We have been working with the London Borough of Bexley over a number of months to try and find alternative ways of providing the service based on the funding now available but without success.

“It is therefore with regret that we have had to issue a number of support officers with notices of redundancy.

“We are working with colleagues at Bexley Council to ensure an orderly handover to the Council’s new service provider to ensure continuity of support for the residents of Sherbrook Close.”