A DEMENTIA sufferer forced to move out of a soon-to-be-axed day centre was asked to choose her preferred alternative facilities – despite not being judged capable of making an informed choice.

Council cabinet members have decided that Crownfield Day Centre for the elderly, in Crownfield Road, will close.

Instead of being referred to the centre, service users will receive funding enabling them to choose care and activity sessions in other public or voluntary sector buildings.

The 20 remaining service users have been attending taster sessions at the alternative centres and have indicated their “preferred” choice to council staff.

Susan Ayres, 55, was surprised to be told recently that her 87-year-old mother Winifred Phillips, who suffers from dementia, had attended taster sessions at a number of different venues, including Albany Court, in Albany Road, Leyton, and William Morris School, in Folly Lane, Walthamstow.

She was told by a council officer that her mother had shown an interest in going to Albany Court.

But Mrs Ayres said: “My mother cannot remember choosing or even going to Albany Court.

“I am her carer and I have not been told anything, nobody seems to know what is happening.

“She is frightened because it feels to her as if she is losing her home and she doesn't know what is going to happen.

“She is crying and upset and phones me 20 times a day.”

Mrs Ayers said she is trying to clarify what is happening to her mother but nobody from the council is responding to her request for a meeting.

Conservative group leader Matt Davis said the council was “exploiting the vulnerable.”

The closure of the new facility, which the council says is necessary to meet government guidelines for the “personalisation” of services. has been opposed by carers, the trade union UNISON, and Leyton MP Harry Cohen.