British PM Cameron "concerned" about disabled child's case - Reuters UK

By Michael Holden

LONDON | Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:14pm GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron will write to the mother of a severely disabled girl who has accused him of going back on a pre-election promise he had made to her to ensure more help for families like hers.

Riven Vincent made headlines on Thursday after revealing she could not cope with looking after her six-year-old daughter Celyn, who has severe quadriplegic cerebral palsy, and had asked social services to take the girl into care.

It came after she learned that her council could offer no more than six hours respite care a week.

"I have no wish to put my daughter into a home. We want to look after her -- all I am asking for is a little more support," she said in a statement issued through the Mumsnet website.

"Without this, we simply cannot cope and nor can families up and down the country just like ours. We are crumbling."

Cameron, whose severely disabled son Ivan died aged 6 in 2009, visited Vincent during last year's election campaign and was "very concerned" about her situation, his spokesman told reporters on Thursday.

"The plan is to write to her. He'll be writing to her very soon," the spokesman said.

Vincent said Celyn needed 24-hour care as she was tube-fed, doubly incontinent, and could not walk, talk or sit up.

She said she had to sleep in a bed next to her daughter every night beside a monitor to check on her breathing.

"Caring takes over your whole life. But I had hoped that after David Cameron came to visit me earlier this year following our exchange on Mumsnet, he would have done more to protect families like ours," she said.

Her case is also being heralded by some critics of the government's massive public spending cuts as indicative of the pain it will cause ordinary people.

The 800 million pounds allocated over four years for short breaks and respite care was not enough, Vincent said. Furthermore it was not ring-fenced so cash-strapped councils could use the money for other services.

Cameron's spokesman said councils should be making efficiency savings to make sure such spending was maintained.

"If they make those efficiencies, they should be able to protect front-line services," he said.

"When it comes to local authorities, they have to make their own judgments as to where they can best spend money. Our objective is to do everything we can to protect front-line services."