A not-for-profit day-care centre in Tenbury says that it is dependent upon grants in order to keep going.

Ria Baxter, who is manager at the Kyrebook Centre, says that facilities, especially for older people needing support, in the Tenbury area are inadequate and has some horror stories about the situations that people have been left to face.

She says that the centre has been running below the numbers that it can take since the end of last year, but this has nothing to do with a lack of demand for support.

Tenbury has a higher than average proportion of elderly people and the day care centre gets some money from Worcestershire County Council for people that it supports but this hardly even covers the running costs of the facility.

Ria Baxter says that she is unable to provide specific details because of confidentiality but that there are horror stories about people left in the most difficult of situations.

This includes an elderly person who has been left without support despite receiving a cancer diagnosis.

In another case an old man taken to hospital and discharged in the early hours of the morning was left with no way of getting home.

On another occasion someone with a urine infection was left to find their own way home by train.

“Kyrebrook is a not for profit, social enterprise,” said Ms Baxter.

“Our running costs are in the region of £7,500 per month. I currently have four paid staff and six volunteers.

“We currently have 22 clients, who come between one and five days per week. We have capacity for 12 clients per day, but sadly our numbers have been decimated since last November when we lost a lot of clients, residential care, hospital and for other reasons.

“We have yet to get back to our previous numbers. We get income from attendance fees, but this barely covers our running costs, so we have to constantly fundraise for all benefits to our clients, such as musical entertainment and trips out.”

She said that Tesco had been a great help.

“We are very lucky to have been included in the Tesco Bags of Help three times, winning £4,000 the first time, which allowed us to buy new chairs for our clients.

“The second time we won £2,000 which went towards the live musical entertainment that we have most weeks.

“Music is such a wonderful thing that activates the brain of those living with dementia.” The centre received £1,000 from the Gordon Trust.