Councillors and health groups voiced fears last night about the impact of Adult Social Care cuts on vulnerable elderly people and the disabled.

Thurrock CCG also said the cuts were ‘certain’ to put more pressure on NHS services, with more people going to A&E and into hospital beds.

The concerns were raised at last night's Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee after it was announced Thurrock’s Adult Social Care budget is to be cut by £500,000.

The council said it was to launch a 12-week public consultation so people can voice their preferences on where cuts are made.

Proposed cuts include cutting five social worker posts, introducing charging for some services, closing some of the six elderly day care centres and cutting expenditure on items under £50.

Mandy Ansell, of Thurrock CCG, said: “These changes are certainly going to put more pressure on our NHS services. They are going to push more people into A&E and into hospital beds.”

Councillor Yash Gupta voiced his concerns, saying: “My fear is that it will have a very adverse impact on our most vulnerable people. Up till now we were trying to prevent people going into social care.”

Kim James of Healthwatch Thurrock said: “What reassurance have we got that people will not be pushed into more crisis situations? These are four big things you are cutting and all of the groups are going to be affected. The news is very sad.”

Ian Sage, of Thurrock Connect said: “We are very concerned about the impact this will have. All the proposals will have a huge impact on elderly people, disabled people to name just a few.”

Roger Wright, Head of Social Care said: “It’s not an easy choice to make at all. We have already delivered £3 million savings this year, and the consequences of doing this have put extra pressure on our existing crisis services. The biggest challenge is already trying to make savings and we know that there are further risks to funding over the next ten years.”

Councillor Barbara Rice said: “Staff are already being asked to do over and above what they need to do and I can’t believe everything they are managing to do.”

The committee voted to extend the public consultation period from eight to 12 weeks to give residents and the groups affected time to voice their concerns.