"Can the County Council deal with learning disabilities" ask Lib Dems - County

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 4th Jun 2008

Cllr Geoff Heathcock

Learning Disability Services might not be ready for growing demand, says Lib Dem Health spokesman Geoff Heathcock.

Some worrying points are highlighted in a report Services published by Cambridgeshire County Council, following a member led review.

Cllr Heathcock commented:

"Can the County Council deal with learning disabilities? The number of people with these difficulties is growing and we don't have any guarantees to prove that service in Cambridgeshire is sufficiently robust and well organised to deal with the future challenge.

"I'm also worried to see that the quality of existing services varies across the County. We need to know what steps are going to be taken to have a uniform high quality service.

"Financially, a significant amount of resource is going in, but an overspend still has to be tackled. With growing demand, there are still doubts about the viability of the service in the short and medium-term."

The review was chaired by Lib Dem Councillor Simon Higginson.

ENDS