TWO Glasgow centres for older people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds are to close.

The city council provides day care services for the Chinese, Indian and mainly Pakistani communities, three of which are faith related services for Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims. The Muslim service is located in the Central Mosque.

Recently, a review was carried out of day care provision for elderly people in the city which highlighted the need for modernisation to allow the social work department to target those with the most complex needs on an equal basis.

The review found 60% of people who used the services for the black and minority ethnic population would not meet the current eligibility criteria for accessing council day care.

It also established that people from the Chinese, Indian and Pakistani communities get access to services for older people at the age of 55 while other groups have to wait until they are 65.

A report from city council social work spokesman Malcolm Cunning said: "No other black and minority ethnic communities in Glasgow have specific registered day care and therefore are required to access services via mainstream provision."

To bring the services for all older people into line, the council's day care services in the Central Mosque, Drumry House and Merrylee will close.

Instead, people who meet the criteria will be able to attend new day care centres being built at Toryglen and Hinshaw Street.

Mr Cunning said: "These proposals represent the final phase of the reform of day service provision for older people in Glasgow and ensures an equality of provision for the city's older population.

"The new model should provide equality of access to services while being sensitive to the specific needs of different communities such as cultural and language barriers.

"Specific day centres for certain ethnic groups have been in place for very many years but this provision is now considered unsustainable when viewed against today's increasingly diverse population in the city.

"In the circumstances the best option is to provide a mainstream service that is responsive to the various needs of those who require a range of support up to and including specialist day care facilities.

"A significant majority of those who attend our current black and minority ethnic (BME) day services do not meet the current eligibility criteria for registered day care.

"All current BME groups would prefer the city council to continue to provide exclusive services. Younger generations with the BME communities were more welcoming of the notion of change in the future, albeit all generations within the Muslim community expressed a keenness for their community to continue to be provided for separately by the council."