What really happens when we walk away from a loved one’s care home?
It’s hard to describe how long six-and-a-half minutes feels when you are listening to a vulnerable person begging for a little human kindness, writes SIMON MURPHY Read this horrifying Daily Mail article…because WW is hearing from older people, and their relatives, who are becoming increasingly concerned about growing old in the borough of Waverley!
WW would not want to draw any similarities between the Retirement Villages Ltd facility described above with the same company’s facilities in Cranleigh, however there have been some quite horrifying complaints made about another care home very close-by and a very damning CQC report!
It is becoming increasingly obvious that growing old in our borough is not getting any easier, in fact, more difficult and more expensive than ever before? With an ageing population, the worried wealthy are becoming just as concerned as the worried poor!
In the good old days, borough council’s boasted numerous sheltered housing units, with teams of wardens giving around-the-clock supervision of our older folk. These are disappearing fast, being replaced with social housing for young families. Good news for some maybe, but not for the elderly?
Even local authority care homes are disappearing faster than sheltered housing – going, going… is Cobgates in Farnham; and gone is …Longfields in Cranleigh; and more to come. There is also very real concern among the older inhabitants of private care homes now being forced to subsidise the care of “local authority” funded clients.
COBGATES care home in Falkner Road will close “this summer” according to Surrey County Council.
Surrey’s cabinet agreed to close all six of the county council’s “outdated” care homes in March last year despite protests by residents of the homes, their families, the wider public and trade unions.
Since the decision, Longfield in Cranleigh and Brockhurst in Ottershaw have closed and Cobgates in Farnham and Dormers in Caterham are to be closed this year.
The remaining two homes, Park Hall in Reigate and Pinehurst in Camberley, will be closed in the summer of 2017.
Once home to 50 beds, Cobgates now has just 19 residents with many deciding to move out early in anticipation of the closure.
A county council spokesman said: “There is no specific closure date yet but Cobgates is likely to be closed towards end of the summer.
“We have been in discussions with all residents and their families trying to find them new places which suit their individual needs and give them the very best care.
“The reduction [in residents] has coincided with residents deciding to move out early and staff at the home are being offered the chance to be re-deployed or transferred elsewhere.”
The spokesman added no decision has been made on the building’s future, although Surrey’s cabinet member for adult social care Mel Few promised last March that all six buildings will be retained to serve a future role in adult social care.
The homes are being close two at a time during the summer months so residents are not moved during cold weather.
How considerate! WW wonders what their future role in adult social care will be?