Aged suffer most

A society should be judged by the care it provides to its most vulnerable, among which must be numbered residents in care homes.

The aged residents of such homes are there because they lack the capacity and the available support to live independently. Most have already gone through the upheaval of having to give up their own cherished homes and all have faced the need to adjust to communal living.

But, having made these sacrifices, many residents are happy and content. They have the assurance of care and assistance when it is needed. Some have exchanged a solitary existence for companionship and new friends.

It is particularly callous to compel residents to move from the security of the care homes to which circumstances of age and infirmity have compelled them. Yet this is precisely what politburo of Sandwell Council proposes with its plans to close four care homes.

As is usual with this authority, it peddles lies to justify the policy, claiming that it is doing care home residents a favour and will give them the independence of a "key to their own front door". Even for a Sandwell socialist this is a sick joke, since the authority does not have sufficient sheltered housing to accommodate those it proposes to eject, quite apart from the suitability of such housing for the displaced care home residents.

The reality is that this is a cost cutting exercise. Again, as with all expenditure, it is a matter of priorities. In this borough "projects" are more important than people; The Public more important than pensioners.

Congratulations to Alderman Roy Handley and Mayor Gurcharan Singh Sidhu for being sufficiently "off message" and humane to oppose these closures. I hope they will not be alone.

Officially, the closures are now subject to public consultation. This presents an opportunity for Sandwell residents to let the group that runs this borough know where its priorities should lie.

Keith Vaughan, Church Hill, Wednesbury.