YORK'S social services chiefs have branded a decision by a private nursing home to give its residents only a month to find new homes "scandalous."

All 20 residents of Riverside Lodge Nursing Home have been told to leave the family-run home in Bishopthorpe Road by the end of April.

One angry relative, Roy Coote, said his family had been asked to pay nearly £1,000 in fees until the end of the month even after his 96-year-old mother-in-law Rose Greaves had moved out.

But Bob Towner, head of Community Services at the City of York Council, said the council was advising people not to pay up beyond their stay in the home until they knew where they stood with contracts and with any DSS benefits.

"It is quite unacceptable in terms of the trauma caused to any old person required to move home that they should be given such a short period of time to find alternative accommodation - four weeks is scandalous," he said.

"The council has received a lot of criticism about Barstow House and we've been quoting a notice period of six months there and have responsibility for finding people other accommodation."

Joan Morton, manager of the Registration Inspection Unit at North Yorkshire Health Authority, said she had written to the owners asking them to re-consider and give a minimum of eight weeks' notice.

One of the home's partners, Dora Scurr, refused to comment on the way the home was being closed.

She and the other partners, her husband Jack and sons Nigel, Julian and Jeremy, wrote to relatives on April 1, telling them the home would cease trading on April 30.

Mr Coote said his mother-in-law had now moved into York Rise Nursing Home.

"We've been told we have to pay £935.61 for 19 days until April 30 but we're not going to," he said.

"They say it's in our contract but I think it's absolutely morally indecent.

"My mother-in-law was weeping when she left, she doesn't know what's happening."

Another worried relative, whose mother is still in the home and who did not want to be named, said:"They're closing the business to suit themselves - I don't see why I should have to pay twice."

A statement from the home said: "As the number of elderly people per capita is still rising, funding for nursing care through social services departments has been under very close scrutiny. It is a sad truth to learn that, when we discuss the individual care needs which an elderly person requires for their final days, we are to bargain, haggle and compromise over funding.

"It has been our endeavour to care for residents by offering a highly reputable quality of service in the comfort of pleasant surroundings. Careful selection of professional staff and a continual investment in medical and nursing equipment have always been a great importance to us.

"Riverside Lodge has been managed by the Scurr family, who, in light of the growing commercial uncertainty in the care industry, have decided it is time to go their separate ways. This has unfortunately resulted in the closing of our nursing home."

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