A POOLE woman who protested to the PM after her husband’s day centre charges rocketed, said she hoped a critical report would make the council reconsider.

Margaret Russell’s husband Eric, who has dementia and a heart condition, saw his charge to attend Poole Day Centre go up from £12 a day to £79 overnight.

She wrote to David Cameron in January but has not received anything more than an acknowledgement.

The huge hike came as a result of Borough of Poole’s Fairer Contributions Policy, whose implementation was one of two policies criticised in the Local Involvement Network (LINk) report.

As a result Eric, now 80, has had to reduce his sessions from three days a week to one.

“There was no consultation,” said Mrs Russell. “There was just a letter and it shook me for days reading it.

“It said in our circumstances, they felt we should be paying £150 a day. Our circumstances are that we live in Canford Cliffs.”

She said: “When I came round from the shock I wrote to David Cameron. I felt it was so unfair.”

Mrs Russell, who is disabled, said her husband missed going to the centre and she now had to do all the shopping and other visits on the day her husband was out and was not able to rest.

Of the report, which is critical of the way the council changed its policies, she said: “I hope it wakes them up and makes them think again. I haven’t much confidence that they will do anything about any of it.”

Commenting on the Daily Echo website, Was Charlie said the council was only interested in saving money. “The welfare of residents doesn’t come into it at all. The vulnerable are just an expensive nuisance they wish they didn’t have.”

Cllr Peter Adams, cabinet portfolio holder for adult social care said Poole had a rising need from people with substantial and critical needs for care services.

“To ensure we can meet demand for social care at a time of significant reductions to council budgets, we have to focus more on offering support to the most vulnerable residents with the highest levels of need,” he said.