To consider the outcome of the consultation on the future of Greenacre Older Persons Home and Day Centre and to decide on the future of the home and the services within it.

1.      That the outcome of the consultations on the future of Greenacre Older Persons Home and Greenacre Day Centre be noted.

2.      That the closure of Greenacre Older Persons Home and cessation of services at Greenacre Day Centre, based on the matters set out in the report, its appendices and background papers, be approved.

3.      To authorise the Director of Social Care, Health and Housing to determine the date of closure of the Greenacre Older Persons Home, taking into consideration the assessed eligible care and support needs of residents of the home along with relevant operational matters.

4.      To authorise the Director of Social Care, Health and Housing to determine the date of cessation of the provision of service at Greenacre Day Centre, taking into consideration the assessed eligible care and support needs of the day centre users and their carers along with relevant operational matters.

5.      To authorise the Director of Social Care, Health and Housing to undertake the processes set out in paragraphs 89 to 91 in the report and to determine the location of the replacement day service.

6.      To authorise the Director of Social Care, Health and Housing to commence the processes, set out in paragraphs 92 to 95 in the report, to determine the future of the ‘Step Up  Step Down’ residential reablement service.

7.      That the commencement of the processes, set out in paragraphs 104 to 106 in the report, in relation to the staff employed at Greenacre Older Persons Home, Day Centre and ‘Step Up Step Down’ unit be approved.

Mr Hamilton, a member of the public whose mother-in-law was currently a resident at Greenacre, was invited to speak. He explained that he had wanted  his mother-in-law to be able to remain at Greenacre for the rest of her life. He had written to the Council raising a series of questions about the provider of Rosewood Court. In the event that the Council decided to proceed with Greenacre’s closure, he was concerned that this should not be until Rosewood Court was in a position to take Greenacre residents.

Mr Hamilton also commended the Council for the respect he had been afforded and the transparency of the process, and he expressed thanks for the time which his family  had been given to enable their involvement in discussions about this issue.

The Executive then considered a report from the Executive Member for Social Care and Housing that set out the outcome of the consultation on the future of Greenacre Older Persons’ Home and Day Centre.  Separate consultations had been carried out for the care home and the day centre as they served different customers, and the future options, which were also different.

It was noted that Greenacre Older Persons’ Home had small rooms with no en-suite facilities.  The Council had been offered places at Dukeminster Court, a newly built residential home, and also at Rosewood Court, a home with nursing care provision, due to open in March 2016. This would provide residents living in the care home with an opportunity to move to a better quality of accommodation.  Residents and families had been consulted and a  total of 26 responses had been received with half of the respondents supporting the preferred option to close the homes and re-locate current residents. 11 people disagreed with closure and 2 were neutral.

The consultation on the Greenacre Day Care Centre had been over five options with the opportunity to identify additional options.  Two of the options involved relocation of the service to Houghton Regis Day Centre.  Preference was indicated for  the service to be relocated to an alternative venue in Dunstable.  Officers would be investigating whether there was an alternative venue in Dunstable that would be appropriate.

No public consultation had been carried out in relation to the Step Up Step Down Unit as the nature of the service meant that it did not have any ongoing customers who would be affected by the proposals.

The Executive noted the individual risk assessments that had been carried out in relation to the relocation of residents and received assurance that the assessments had been carried out diligently and in consultation with other professionals such as residents’ GPs.

During discussion, it was reiterated that the Council was concerned to ensure that residents of care homes would not be asked to move more than once. Additionally, the Executive noted that the reason for seeking the delegation to the Director to determine the date of the proposed closure was to enable the best interests of residents to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98

To scrutinise the report and results of the consultation on the future of Greenacre Older Persons home and to provide the Executive with recommendations on the proposals for its future.

In accordance with the public participation procedure, two members of the public were invited to speak.  The first speaker raised the following:

·         Suggestions that any closure of the home be put on hold until the new provider had been registered with the Care Quality Commission.

·         The importance of undertaking checks on the financial viability of a provider prior to the start of a consultation phase.

·         Concerns that a provider could walk away from their contract should they fail to deliver.

·         That the Committee ought to consider a recommendation to keep the Greenacre Care Home open.

The second speaker raised the following:-

·         That consideration be given to the closure of the home, which is not fit for purpose for wheelchair users and the land be used by the Council to build and operate a new home.

·         Support for Council owning and running care homes rather than the private sector.

·         That when deciding on the new location of the step up, step down facility, the Council consider sites near public transport routes.

In response the Executive Member for Social Care & Housing advised that funding was not available for the Council to provide and run new care homes, however work with the private sector on recent developments had been successful.  Comments from the speakers and responses to the consultation had been taken into account and learning would be taken into account in the future.

The Head of Managing the Needs of Older People (MANOP) delivered a presentation that outlined the need for change to meet the accommodation needs for older people.  Greenacre did not meet the modern expectations and it would be expensive and impractical to update.

The Committee were also informed that other services located at Greenacre included a small day centre and a step up, step down short term residential reablement service.  It would be necessary to move these two services to new sites should it be decided to close the home. Residents, their families and staff at Greenacre had been invited to 1:1 meetings held at the home to discuss the proposals.  A full consultation had been published and the Director had asked for delegated authority to keep Greenacre open for as long it was necessary based on residents need.

A Member raised a concern regarding the registration of one of the care homes with CQC. In response the Head of MANOP advised the Council would need to reconsider its approach to the future of the home should Only Care Ltd not be successful in achieving registration.

Following the closure of Caddington Hall, a Member asked if lessons had been learnt and if learning would be used in preparation of the proposed closure of Greenacre?  In response the Head of MANOP advised residents would receive an early assessment of their needs and abilities.  Activities would be continued to maintain a positive atmosphere for those residents who remained at the home.

Members of the Committee were satisfied that the consultation process had been carried out in a comprehensive and diligent manner,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70