DOZENS of care workers will lose their jobs this Christmas after a North-East charity announced it is closing one of its nursing homes and a day centre.

The Cleveland Alzheimer’s Residential Centre – Clevearc – revealed in November that a period of consultation was under way with staff teams at the Kirkdale nursing home in Thornaby and the charity’s day centre in Guisborough.

Last night, Clevearc trustees announced that “continued financial challenges” meant that both sites will close in the coming weeks, with around 47 jobs being cut in the process.

The charity was established in 1989 to provide residential and day care for people with Alzheimer's disease and other related dementias.

However, a consultation process ending this week has confirmed that the Clevearc Day Centre in Guisborough will close at Christmas, affecting 16 families, while the Kirkdale Nursing Home, in Thornaby, Stockton, will shut on January 31, 2019, affecting eight families.

Chairman of the board of trustees of the Clevearc charity, Alan Kitching, said: “We met with staff in November to discuss the very serious challenges that face Kirkdale and Clevearc as a charity and to inform them the services at Kirkdale and Guisborough were at risk of closure.

“As a small, local charity, we are providing care services at a time of very challenging national and local economic circumstances which are only set to become more challenging. Meanwhile, the costs of providing services which meet the very complex needs of our client group continue to increase.

“We have had to consider the closure of some parts of, and possibly the whole, charity. These are not considerations we have taken lightly and we have looked at many different options.

“With huge regret and sadness, we have told staff and families this week that because of the ongoing financial struggles we face and will continue to face if no changes are made, Kirkdale and the day centre will both close.

“We are devastated not to have been able to secure the future of these great services, whose teams have provided fantastic care for many years.”

Mr Kitching added that the board will make “strenuous efforts” to maintain its remaining care home, Allison House, also in Thornaby.

He said: “We continue to look at all options to safeguard Clevearc’s future including the sale of Kirkdale as a vacant building, and potentially Allison House as a going concern.

“At Kirkdale and the day centre we will be supporting residents and their families to find and move to alternative homes, or to source alternative day care. We know this will be a very worrying time for them and for that we sincerely apologise.

“Our priority at Clevearc has always been to provide the very best care and support we can for those in our area living with dementia. We are extremely saddened that these services will close and will do all we can to minimise upset for all those affected.”