A COUNCILLOR has voiced “extreme disappointment” at a decision by health and social care board members to accept a £200,000 savings option on Lorne Campbell Court in Campbeltown.
Councillor Jennifer Kean (Independent, South Kintyre) had set up a petition against the savings option, which attracted over 2,500 signatures, electronically and on paper, including some other councillors.
But in setting the Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care’s (HSCP) budget for 2026/27, its integration joint board (IJB) accepted the savings option.
The decision will mean a £200,000 saving on extra care services at Lorne Campbell Court, with a consultation ongoing to deliver the saving through implementation of a new service model.
Councillor Dougie McFadzean (SNP, Kintyre and the Islands) had recognised Councillor Kean’s work in setting up the petition during the meeting on Wednesday, March 25.
He said: “Councillor Kean emailed me this morning. She took it upon herself along with other ward one councillors to set up a petition which has had 2,500 signatures.
“It gives an indication of the strength of feeling in the Kintyre area. This has been replicated across Argyll and Bute to varying degrees, but the community reaction to the proposals for Lorne Campbell Court has been particularly poignant.
“My understanding is that the initial savings proposals for Lorne Campbell Court were in the region of £300,000 and we are now asked to decide on a saving of £200,000. Can you outline why there is a difference?”
James Gow, the IJB’s head of finance and transformation, said: “The process has taken a bit longer than we had thought, but it also provides an extra £100,000 to be invested into the care at home service in the Kintyre area.”
After the savings option was accepted, Councillor Kean wrote to IJB members saying: “After sitting in on today’s meeting I write to express my extreme disappointment in the outcome of the Lorne Campbell Court saving proposal and the fact it was simply nodded through without any real questioning by board members, despite the previous information provided to you and the petition brought forward by the Kintyre community.
“Further, the manner in which officers responded to Councillor McFadzean’s question on the issue has been commented on by members of the public in attendance online – it was very clear that officers were downplaying the significance of this service by repeatedly referring to the ‘very small number’ of people who will be affected.
“Members of the public have asked me to raise this with the board. I fully understand their upset at this and can assure you all that it is not simply a small number of people who will be affected – every single resident within Lorne Campbell Court will be affected negatively, as will the staff and the wider community within Kintyre.
“Further, there have been a number of people who have tried in vain to access this service over the last year and have been blocked by doing so (and some of whom have since passed away outwith the area) – it is now clear that this has been a deliberate managed decline of the service for the purpose of this saving proposal.
“There was a lot of talk today regarding the public engagement events and how the board and HSCP will improve engagement with the public going forward – unfortunately the manner in which this issue was handled today following clear public opposition will simply show the whole Kintyre community that their voices do not matter.”
A HSCP spokesperson said: “We would like to thank everyone who participated in our recent budget engagement programme and fed in their thoughts on our proposed plans.
“At the IJB meeting we announced that, due to additional resourcing for the HSCP, we were able to reduce the extent of many our savings proposals and tried, as much as possible, to mitigate the effects that some of the others will have on the people who use our services.
“We are however still facing significant financial challenges and the balanced budget presented to the meeting relies on substantial savings and longer term service redesign and the board had to take the difficult decision to approve the implementation of a number of the remaining savings proposals.
“In relation to Lorne Campbell Court (LCC) this means that the enhanced care model of service we provide for a small number of individuals within LCC will be brought into line with the approach that we use in the rest of Kintyre and this will free up £100,000 that will allow us to invest in much needed care at home services within the Kintyre area.
“We do understand that change can be unsettling and we will work closely with those individuals affected, their families and our staff during a transition period of six months to ensure that any change to the service is done sensitively and with as little disruption as possible.
