A DECISION by the Red Cross to axe its day care service has devastated elderly users.

The national charity runs a multitude of services from its centre on Newgate Street, in Bishop Auckland, but at the end of March it will stop running day care sessions on behalf of social services when the contract with the council expires.

The charity says the changes are part of a national reassessment of the services it provides and said alternative options are to be looked at for the scheme's 50 users, who are mainly referred to the Red Cross to offer relief to their carers.

But one client, Vera Porter, 72, from West Auckland said she depends on her twice weekly visits to the centre to get out of her house and meet other people.

After suffering two strokes she has been left house-bound and looks forward to the sessions where clients are provided with lunch and activities such as bingo.

She said: "There's an awful lot of clients this week almost in tears because a lot of them, like me, wouldn't go anywhere at all if they didn't have the Red Cross.

"There's no other centres like this in Bishop Auckland and people like me can't travel far. I can't even travel to the end of my street on my own, but there's people worse than me, we've got blind people and deaf people who use the centre."

Alison Ruane, acting director of the County Durham and Teesdale branch of the Red Cross, said the charity has decided to take a look at the services it offers and concentrate on short-term crisis work, such as helping people whose homes had flooded.

Other services offered at the Bishop Auckland branch, such as a loaning scheme for equipment to help people around the house are not affected.

She said: "Nationally we're looking at the type of work that Red Cross should be doing. As a charity we have limited resources and we want to focus on some of the key services and crisis care."

A spokesman for Durham County Council said the needs of the clients would be carefully assessed and any alternatives will be discussed with them and their families and carers.

He said: "We are fully committed to ensuring they continue to receive the sort of care which the new assessments suggests they need.