£38m ‘Super’ Care Homes To Replace Ageing Buildings
By News Scotland

ALL of Edinburgh’s ageing council-run care homes are set to close and be replaced with six new “super” homes at a cost of £38 million.

Hundreds of elderly residents will be on the move as 14 facilities are deemed “no longer fit for purpose” and are shut down over the next decade.

The new homes will complement four care homes recently opened or currently being built by the local authority, such as Marionville and Castle Green. The cut in council-run care homes will happen in tandem with a doubling of care packages offered in the home.

City leaders are aiming to have 40 per cent of all those elderly people in need of care receiving it in their own home by 2018.

The intention is also to use some of the sites of the former homes for the development of the new care homes, which will all have better facilities such as bigger bedrooms.

The likely sites for the new homes are at Kings Inch, the old Eastern General site in Leith, South Queensferry, Clovenstone, Silverlea and Clermiston.

A survey of the existing 14 care homes has said it is not viable to rebuild them, adding that annual maintenance would run into the millions.

Councillor Paul Edie, the city’s spokesman for health, social care and housing, said: “Older people have told us that they want to stay in their own homes, in their own communities. There will of course be some cases where residential accommodation is required and while the quality of care provided in our care homes is consistently high, the fabric of the buildings does not meet modern standards.

“In building new custom-built homes we are able to match the standard of accommodation to the high standard of care we provide.”

The proposed changes mean the number of care home places provided by the city council will drop from 652 to an estimated 418 by 2018. It is understood the new homes being built by the council will be a mix of both local authority and privately-operated homes.

A further £18 million has been earmarked to build 270 affordable homes for elderly people, many of which would be built on the sites of the existing care homes. It is hoped that sale of the 11 care home sites will net the council around £23.6m.

The proposals will be discussed by the city’s health, social care and housing committee next Tuesday.

PROPOSED CLOSURES

Council care homes which are not “fit for purpose” and set to close.

• Balmwell House, Balmwell Terrace

• Clermiston House, Parkgrove Terrace

• Clovenstone House, Clovenstone Gardens

• Craigour, Moredun Park

• Ferrylee, North Junction Street

• Fords Road, Stenhouse

• Jewel House, Bingham Crescent

• Liberton Gardens, Little Road

• Oaklands, Canaan Lane

• Parkview, Peffermill Road

• Porthaven, Wellington Place

• Sighthill, Calder Gardens

• Silverlea, Muirhouse Parkway

• The Tower, Murrayfield Drive