A public meeting will be held in Derry this week to discuss recent revelations by the Western Trust that learning disability services are being underfunded by £8 million each year.
The ongoing shortfall in funding was announced at a meeting between the Trust’s senior learning disability managers and representatives of a number of parent/carers groups and communitycorganisations.
According to a recent report prepared by the HSCB it was identified that there has been consistent under-funding over a number of years and it is understood that funding that should have been directed to learning disabilities was routinely allocated to other areas of care, namely older people’s care and acute services.
The public meeting, be held in the City Hotel at 7.00pm on Tuesday, will launch a campaign to ensure the immediate re-instatement of the £8 million to the budget and to seek retrospective funding for all the years that learning disability services were short-changed.
The meeting is being organised by the Western Learning Disability Action Group (WLDAG) which is a representative body for a range of disability Groups.
The action group has extended a special invitation to families and individuals living with learning disabilities to the meeting, and to those who work within the Trust and those groups who deliver services within the community and voluntary sector.
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