Care Will Continue Despite Closures

Residents of care homes due to close will still be given care, Bromley council has promised. Six care homes are due to close as part of a move away from residential care and towards a mix of services, aimed at giving more support to people living independently.

Bromley Council is planning to replace the homes with four new ones between 2010 and 2011. The six homes to close are Bellegrove, Mickelham Road, St Paul’s Cray; Isard House, Glebe House Drive, Hayes; Kingswood House, Mays Hill Road, Shortlands; Manorfields, Avalon Road, Orpington; Sheila Stead House, Bushell Way, Chislehurst and Anne Sutherland House, Thesiger Road, Penge.

Members of the public got a first look at how the future could look at the unveiling of plans for four new homes at Leesons Hill, St Paul’s Cray, on August 10. Drawings and scale models of the new care homes by architect Pentan Partnership from Cardiff were on display as part of a public consultation.

Planning applications for new homes on the Bellegrove site and the Ann Sutherland House site were submitted on August 8. New homes are also planned for the sites in Sheila Stead House and Manorfields, bringing the total number of care places in the four new homes to 150 – down from the 220 currently available.

The 150 new places will combine nursing and residential beds, while the current homes offer residential beds only, meaning residents currently have to be moved if their health worsens.

The council’s commissioning project manager Lorna Blackwood said: “For the existing residents we will do an individual assessment in conjunction with families and the individual to identify their needs and find them somewhere to go. It is only at the point we are assured we have found suitable alternatives for each individual and they have been relocated will we decide to close the home.”

Speaking about the plans for the new Bellegrove home, ward councillor Colin Willets said: “Most of the residents are crying out for this kind of accommodation.”