I have just read a press release from Councillor Jean Spray dated July 20 on the Brighton and Hove City Council website, regarding the consultation process and future of Knoll House Resource Centre in Hove.

Does Coun Spray think about what she says before saying it? I would have thought, being the Executive Councillor for Social Care and Health, she would know Knoll House care staff already provide first-class residential care for their service users.

She need not look to private-sector alternatives. Her own council report, dated 2000, described the care received at Knoll House as "excellent" and an independent body of assessors (invited by the council earlier this year) gave the residential and respite units a four-star rating, the highest possible for a home of this kind and given specifically for the care component.

And yet she comments: "We have to act now to secure first-class residential care in the future for the residents of Knoll House." She applauds the quality of day care and home care at Knoll House without making mention of the care residents receive from care staff themselves.

Has Coun Spray ever heard of the term "staff morale"? Is she aware or does she care that her comments have deeply hurt top-class professional care workers who work only towards the happiness and well-being of the residents?

Yes, Knoll House residential and respite units need upgrading in line with the new National Care Standards but the council has until the year 2007 to achieve this.

Why the indecent haste to consult on closure six years before required? Why not spend this time on planning to upgrade and seeking solutions regarding the cost of this? And can she not acknowledge publicly that while the building of Knoll House may need improvement, the standard of care is second to none?

Knoll House enjoys a strong reputation for providing residential, respite, day and home care to both the local community and users from further afield. At a public meeting, a member of the local residents' association stated: "Knoll House was both in the heart and at the heart of the Ingram Crescent community." The director of the Alzheimer's Society spoke of Knoll House as providing a "unique service" in the local area.

I would urge Coun Spray to choose her words carefully in future when releasing comments into the public arena which staff will read and take to heart.

-Sue Beatty, Unison shop steward, Brighton