MY partner, who is suffering from a life-limiting disease, is currently in sheltered housing on Arran, along with 14 other elderly and vulnerable residents. There are a further 22 residents in similar accommodation in the neighbouring village.

These vulnerable and frightened elderly people are now faced with the prospect of having a key care assistant withdrawn, upon whom they rely for their care plans and a multitude of services both personal and communal. The cost of the assistant’s time is £20,000 a year.

The Scottish Government granted North Ayrshire Council an additional £6,250,000 in its budget earlier this year, a 2.3 per cent uplift. In addition, NHS Ayrshire and Arran is to receive an £11.6 million funding boost.

It is outrageous that the trifling sum of £20,000 cannot be found to provide an essential service to the residents of these two sheltered housing schemes, especially when the alternative will be to force them into far more expensive permanent care sooner rather than later. Inhumane and short-sighted hardly covers the case.

Ian Ferguson,

Muileann Bheag,

Lamlash,

Isle of Arran.