Plans to scrap residential beds at three Derbyshire council care homes, built for £33 million in the past six years, have been dubbed “madness”.
Derbyshire County Council is now considering the future of three of its most recently built care homes after concluding that eight other care homes should be closed and sold.
The controlling Conservative cabinet is set to wave through proposals to close the following eight care homes on Thursday, November 14:
Briar Close, Borrowash
Castle Court, Castle Gresley, Swadlincote
The Grange, Eckington
Lacemaker Court, Long Eaton
The Leys, Ashbourne
New Bassett House, Shirebrook
Rowthorne, Swanwick
Thomas Colledge, Bolsover
Now it is also looking at changing the use of several of the care homes that it is looking to retain, with the Ada Belfield Centre in Belper, Thomas Fields Care Centre in Buxton, Bennerley Fields Centre in Ilkeston and The Staveley Centre set to have their residential care beds scrapped.
Three of the four facilities (Buxton, Ilkeston and Staveley), following another batch of consultation, would be converted into hospital discharge beds, purely for use for people leaving hospital but not yet able to return home without significant assistance, in a bid to support the wider health and care system.
While the Buxton, Ilkeston and Staveley homes would not be outright closed, their continued use as care homes for long-term direct admission by members of the public would cease.
Ada Belfield in Belper would be closed outright and put on the open market for eight weeks to be sold as a “going concern” and should a sale be unsuccessful in that timespan residents will be moved out and the building repurposed for a different use.
This has drawn significant criticism from local councillors and campaigners due to three of the council facilities having been built in the past six years at a total price (with some shared with the private sector) of £33 million.
The council is trying to plug a £40 million black hole in its budget.
The 40-bed Ada Belfield Centre in Derwent Street, Belper, opened in early 2020 at a cost of £10 million, in an architectural-award-winning building on the former Thorntons factory site.
Meanwhile, the Thomas Fields Care Centre in Brown Edge Road, Buxton, which has 20 residential care beds, opened in 2018 at a cost of £10 million.
The 40-bed Bennerley Fields Centre in Bennerley Avenue, Cotmanhay, Ilkeston, was opened in 2022 at a cost of £13 million.
A council report to be approved this week details the plan to have the three facilities in Ilkeston, Buxton and Staveley solely used for hospital community support beds: “Increasing the numbers with a wide geographical spread would support more people to maximise independence, have therapy to recover and would improve flow through the local hospitals which benefits everyone.
“Providing long term care and flexible breaks for people with dementia as well as the continued provision of community support beds at some settings, represents the most effective use of public resources to meet need.
“The council considers that moving to a single operating model where an individual service would support either community support beds or specialist long term residential and overnight respite care and day opportunities for people with dementia, represents the most effective use of the service.”
Cllr Ben Bellamy, an Amber Valley Borough Council member representing Belper, has started a petition opposing the closure of residential beds at Ada Belfield, with more than 1,900 signatures as of this article’s publication.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This is local government at its worst, and DCC leader Barry Lewis should hang his head in shame.
“No one had any idea that privatisation or selling our care home was on the cards, but they are again reverting to type.
“Indeed all the indications were that Ada Belfield, as modern and only four years old with award-winning architecture, would not be under threat.
“We urge national government to step in and stop this madness, though given the way they have recently treated older people with the winter fuel cut, our older residents probably won’t hold out much hope.”
Cllr Gez Kinsella, county councillor for the Duffield and Belper South division, told the LDRS: “The closure of care homes, including the newly built Ada Belfield care home in Belper, is truly shocking news. It not only defies any economic sense but demonstrates that the Conservative administration at County Hall is cruel and uncaring in the extreme.
“Even by the council’s own justification for closure, this makes no sense – DCC argues there is an increasing need for specialist services for the growing number of older people in Derbyshire with dementia.
“Yet, they propose the closure/privatisation of Ada Belfield, a beacon of good practice in this area of specialism.
“I will continue my efforts to speak up for the most vulnerable in our Belper community and fight to keep Ada Belfield open and run by the council.
“As a county councillor for Belper, I know that the community will stand together to stop this happening.
“As a first step, I am asking people to join me to oppose these cuts at 2pm on 14 November at County Hall, when the cabinet are due to discuss this proposal.”
A family member of a resident living at Ada Belfield said: “Just four years ago, this home was built as a new, state-of-the-art, quality residential facility.
“Millions were spent on it and the attached café and library.
“At what cost will it be sold? And where will residents like my family member go?
“She is thriving here with the amazing staff and facility. We must save the home.”
A Derbyshire County Council spokesperson said: ” The proposals for a new model of care, due to be considered by our cabinet on Thursday, are designed to create a specialist, efficient, effective and sustainable care service to support even more Derbyshire residents to stay in their own home for as long as they can.
“This would be created by using our remaining directly provided care homes which would supply wraparound care for those with dementia and their carers under a refocused service, and developing closer working with health partners.
“Like councils across the country, Derbyshire is facing financial pressures like never before including increasing demand for services, particularly for children and older people. It’s therefore vital we focus our resources on having the right options to support those who need us most.
“Cabinet is being asked to decide on a number of proposals including holding a public consultation into the future of care at Ada Belfield, Thomas Fields and The Staveley Centre.
“The proposals are to publicly consult on ceasing to operate and offer Ada Belfield for sale and to move towards a single operating model of care, one option being to use Thomas Fields and The Staveley Centre for community support beds only – to support hospital discharge and reablement. This would support more people to remain at home, which is what people say they want.
“If cabinet agrees to consult, no decisions would be made until everyone’s views were taken into account.
“Cabinet is also being asked to approve ceasing long-term residential care at Bennerley, which would subsequently be used for community support beds only as part of closer working with NHS partners to support the health and care system.”
