Anger at care homes closure
TWO council care homes in South Lanarkshire will close after the Scottish Government rejected urgent appeals for extra social care funding.
Maree Todd, Minister for Social Care, said it would “not be appropriate” to intervene in decisions made by South Lanarkshire’s Integrated Joint Board (IJB), which voted in March to close the highly-rated Mcclymont House in Lanark and Dewar House in Hamilton.
The closures are projected to deliver annual savings of £1.5 million amid a £19.5m black hole in the authority’s adult social care budget.
Campaigners described the outcome as “devastating”.
Elderly care home residents, many with dementia, will be relocated to new premises over the coming months, with both homes expected to cease operating by the end of October.
However, the only other care homes in the Clydesdale region are privately-run facilities, with the nearest council-run homes more than 20 miles away in East Kilbride.
Emma Koubayssi, a Save Mcclymont campaigner whose 92-year-old grandmother has been a resident at the council-owned home for more than five years, said: “This is devastating news. We are gutted and feel so let down by our politicians.
“This is social vandalism and all politicians are to blame for this state of affairs.
“Make no mistake this will have a terrible impact on the current residents, while removing public care for Clydedale people in the future.”
More than 3,300 people had signed a petition to save Mcclymont, which is consistently praised by inspectors for the quality of its care.
On Saturday, around 100 people attended a rally in Lanark to protest against the home’s closure.
Stephen Smellie, Unison branch secretary, said the Scottish Government had “chosen to look the other way”.
He added: “The people of Clydesdale know, as everyone else does, including the council and Scottish Government, that this decision to close the only councilrun care home in Clydesdale and rely on private-sector homes will put the future of care at the mercy of an unreliable, unsustainable and poorer quality service.”
Members of the South Lanarkshire IJB voted through the closures on March 26, despite overwhelming opposition from a public consultation.
It pledged to take “all reasonable steps to seek to minimise the impact on families”, but stressed that it has a statutory obligation to set a balanced budget.
On March 27, the IJB’S director of health and social care, Professor Soumen Sengupta, wrote to Health Secretary Neil Gray, saying that they would “reconsider” the homes’ closures if the Scottish Government stepped in with extra funding.
Prof Sengupta said it was facing a £33m shortfall in local health and social care services, including a £19.5m recurring budget shortfall across adult social care in 2024/25.
The financial pressures facing health and social care across
Scotland have been described as “the most challenging since devolution”.
And Prof Sengupta warned that on current projections, the IJB is heading for a further £9m shortfall in its adult and older people’s budgets by 2025/26.
Acknowledging that the Scottish Government faces “tough choices”, Prof Sengupta said the IJB “recognises that the sheer scale of the funding gap is such that unless additional funding is provided, there will be unavoidable implications for what, how, and for whom services and support are provided in the near future”.
Campaigners have expressed frustration that the IJB appealed for £33m in additional social care funding, instead of only the £780,000 a year needed to keep Mcclymont operating.