Care chief denies cuts to dementia centre

Dudley Council’s social care chief denied the authority is planning to close a popular dementia service in Stourbridge.

At a meeting of the council’s Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee on August 3, director of adult social care, Emma Matthews, was quizzed on the future of the Crystal Gateway centre on Brettell Lane.

The centre has been dubbed a ‘lifeline’ and in 2025 councillors voted unanimously to retain the facility, scrapping a proposal to close it to save cash after a public outcry.

Fears for the future of the centre and dementia services have resurfaced, prompting Cllr Andrew Tromans to submit a question to the scrutiny committee claiming ‘the authority is clearly committed to dissolving the specialist services within adult social care’.

Ms Matthews said: “I would like to reassure councillors and therefore residents that the adult social care department remains fully committed to supporting people living with dementia and their carers.

“The current departmental review of community-based support linked to departmental restructures has needed to focus on how services are delivered to ensure that available resources are used in the most effectively equitable way to meet local need.

“It should not be interpreted as a reduction in our commitment to dementia support.”

Ms Matthews explained the service at the Brettell Lane centre was limited geographically but a redesigned service would operate across the borough and the council will remain as providers for the short and medium term.

Cllr Tromans pressed home the point about the Crystal Gateway by asking if current users were being given end dates, whether new users were being accepted and whether the council was involved in a process of managed decline at the centre.

Ms Matthews said: “I can assure you that existing members are still able to access services at the Gateway but what we’re doing is moving from an old model to a new model.

“It was just a day service, what we’re moving to is a much more focused offer where people know the activities that are available and can select from those, so they can choose what they want not only at Crystal but across the whole range of services.

“They’ll have much more exciting plans that they’re in control of, that’s not a reduced offer, it’s just a changed offer.

“We will continue to explain that and work through existing clients so they can see the benefit of the new offer and why they are moving to it.”

The committee was told new clients were not being accepted for a day of services at Crystal but were able to book the services that were on offer at the centre and other hubs across the community.

Ms Matthews added: “In the work we did with people who used the service at Crystal, we listened to what they said they liked about it and what they didn’t like.

“They loved the building, they wanted to keep the building so we made that commitment and that building stays as part of our offer.”