Southern Trust underspends on adults with learning disabilities

The Southern Health and Social Care Trust has underspent on services for adults with learning disabilities by more than £7m since 2014.

Families and carers said they are deeply frustrated and now want answers.

The BBC obtained the figures via a freedom of information request.

A spokesperson for the Southern Health and Social Care Trust said it was not always possible to spend the full amount allocated within a single financial year.

Of the other four health trusts, Belfast did not have an underspend in the past three years while the Western Trust in its FOI response said it had overspent.

The Northern and South Eastern Trusts had smaller underspends in a number of financial years.

The total annual budget in the Southern Trust for adults with learning difficulties is more than £46m.

'Really angry'

Anne Mallon, 72, has been caring for her disabled daughter for more than four decades.

A brain virus shortly after birth left Kelly-Ann severely brain-damaged. She has no speech, cannot feed herself, is doubly incontinent and uses a wheelchair.

Ms Mallon said she and other carers are frustrated after learning that their health trust did have more money to spend on services.

"It makes us very angry," she said.

"We're constantly being told that the cost of respite is phenomenal.

"I have been fighting for 40 years to get services, yet am constantly told that the trust can't afford them.

"Then you find out there's money not spent and it makes you really, really angry."

'Big stir'

The County Armagh woman said she and other carers had suggestions for the way they felt the money should have been allocated - including more respite care and more domiciliary care packages.

"It could have made a lot of people's lives easier, particularly older carers like myself who have been caring for years and years.

"You get to the point where you just feel like lying down and forgetting about it all."

Pat Wilson, 60, spent her life caring for her son Sean, who died last Christmas.

Pat Wilson said any extra cash could have provided a welcome "cushion" for carers such as herself

He had complex needs, suffered from epilepsy and required nursing care as he couldn't walk, talk or eat unaided.

Mrs Wilson said any extra cash could have provided a welcome "cushion" for carers - citing emergency beds in respite as an issue.

"My mother died two years ago and Sean had been in respite.

"He was due to come home and I asked would they keep him another night.

"While we were in the chapel, they were ringing me saying they didn't think Sean was very well.

"They wanted me to leave the funeral and go to Sean - it was very difficult."

The Southern Trust said there were various reasons they are not always able to spend the full amount allocated. These include:

• The significant time involved in securing specialist accommodation for clients with complex needs

• The significant time (and challenge) involved in recruiting specialist learning disability staff

• The fact that spending often straddles more than one financial year

• Not all decisions regarding investments are solely within the control of the trust and final decisions may take longer than anticipated

• The timing around when children move to adult disability services can vary and will impact the budget

All the money is ring-fenced and remains in the budget, it added.

Meanwhile, Ms Mallon said her group of carers are not going to let the matter rest.

"We are going to be creating as big a stir as we can manage - all the carers," she said.

"We'll be looking for explanations as to why they can't afford to do all these other things when they have an underspend in the trust"