Updated: THREE new super-care homes could be built to replace City of York Council’s nine existing elderly person’s homes.

The authority is set to launch a city-wide consultation on radical plans to build state-of-the-art 55-bedroom care homes on the sites of Fordlands home in Fulford and Haxby Hall in Haxby, where a total of 73 people are currently accommodated.

Two 45-bedroom homes are also proposed as part of a new “care village” on the site of the former Lowfield School, which might also involve the construction of 21 new two-bedroom, independent living bungalows.

The £13.4 million proposals, unveiled at a press conference yesterday, throw a question mark over the future of the city’s seven other homes – Grove House, Morrell House, Oakhaven, Oliver House, Willow House, Windsor House and Woolnough House.

Officials said the city’s homes were “coming to the end of their useful life as fit for purpose care homes”.

The option of extending or refurbishing them had been considered, but it would be a considerable challenge to bring them to new-build standard, and seven of them were on too small a footprint to extend and meet modern specifications.

Coun Tracey Simpson-Laing, cabinet member for adult social services, said the existing homes were all built in the 1960s and 1970s, and many bedrooms were very small and did not have en suite facilities. She said the emphasis in the new, energy-efficient homes would be on accommodating high-dependency residents and people with dementia, although frail elderly residents already living there would be able to stay in such care.

In future, however, the authority would support frail elderly people in carrying on living in their own homes as long as possible, rather than moving in to such care homes.

She promised a full public consultation on the proposals, including sessions to be staged in local supermarkets and the provision of hard copies in local libraries, as well as online.

Officers said the changes might result in a reduction of about 40 in the 323 staff currently employed by the nine homes.

However, with an annual staff turnover of about ten to 12 per cent, they did not anticipate the need for any compulsory redundancies.

They said the total number of beds provided would decrease from 276 to 200.

Two options for the running of the new homes have been presented, one involving them being operated by council staff.

The other option is for the council to enter into a partnership with a commercial developer to fund and build a new home, with an operator partner chosen to run the home, who could come from the “not for profit” or independent sector. Council staff could transfer across to the new operator.

The issue is set to be discussed by the council’s ruling cabinet next week, after which the consultation will begin.

The cabinet will then make a decision in November, and it is hoped the changes it agrees on could be fully implemented within four years.

Change ‘bound to cause uncertainty’

THE proposed changes will inevitably lead to a period of uncertainty for residents in the current nine homes, the council’s director for adults, children and education services, Pete Dwyer, has admitted.

But he said the authority wanted to reassure residents that whatever decision was taken, there would not be any reduction in care.

“Indeed, the council fully expects the review to result in improved facilities,” he said.

Sally Hutchinson, chief officer of Age UK York, said she personally viewed the proposed new homes as a “huge move forward”, and welcomed the major consultation exercise.

George Wood, of the York Older People’s Assembly, said the “care village” plans for the former Lowfield site were “particularly exciting”.

Council’s existing elderly homes

THE council’s current elderly person’s homes are: Fordlands in Fulford (31 beds for frail elderly); Grove House in The Groves (27 beds for frail elderly plus six high-dependency); Haxby Hall in Haxby (19 beds for frail elderly and 23 high-dependency); Morrell House in Burton Stone Lane,(29 beds for residents with dementia); Oakhaven in Acomb (27 beds for frail elderly); Oliver House in Bishophill, (19 beds for frail elderly); Willow House, off Walmgate (33 beds for frail elderly); Windsor House in Acomb (28 beds for residents with dementia) and Woolnough House, off Hull Road (34 beds for frail elderly).

York Press: The Press - Comment

Changes in care need sensitivity

ON THE face of it, City of York Council’s announcement that three new care super-homes could be built to replace the city’s nine elderly person’s homes is welcome news.

Officials say the current care homes do not lend themselves to modern care and some are coming to the end of their useful life. However, York has 276 people in care at the moment and the new super-homes will be solely for those with high-dependency needs such as dementia.

In today’s terms, that means almost a third fewer people in care will be able to secure a place.

The council says, for now, frail elderly residents would be able to carry on living in care, but adds in future everything will be done to help them stay in their own homes.

Which is all well and good, but no one enters a care home because they want to and the worry is that the devil may be in the detail.

Many will be worried about the reduction in places and care must be exercised that, for those who do move, the most impact is not felt by the most vulnerable.

And that doesn’t just mean people requiring high-dependency care, because change can be a difficult thing for elderly people and, for all the faults inherent in the current homes, to many residents they are just that: home.

And without doubt, moving will be a traumatic experience. We hope the council will make these changes in a listening way, with the opinions of all with an insight into the needs of elderly people being sought.

Because while there could be many positive aspects to the new proposals, empathy will be key to seeing these ideas properly thought through.

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