Protest To Save Derby Care Home From Closure

Campaigners hit the streets of Derby yesterday to protest at the potential closure of a care home.

The city council has said that Bramblebrook House in Mickleover could close as part of a move towards caring for more people in their own homes.

The announcement in August reduced some residents to tears and they and their families have been campaigning against the closure ever since.

Yesterday, relatives of residents and representatives of Age Concern gathered at The Spot to drum up support.

Wearing campaign T-shirts and waving banners, the group collected hundreds of names for a petition, which will be handed to the city council as part of a consultation exercise that was due to end today.

Roger Taylor, 60, whose 90-year-old mother, Pearl, has been at the Rough Heanor Road home since her husband died two years ago, travelled from Crick, in Northamptonshire, to take part in the protest.

He said: “Closing it just doesn’t make sense. It’s like a community there and they’re all friends.

“It’s not just the residents, it’s the staff as well – they’re all part of one big family.

“The social interaction is exceptional.

“If the council makes an evidence-based decision, then it has to stay open.”

Ian Blurton, 51, of Collingham Gardens, Mackworth, whose mother, Ellen, 87, has been at Bramblebrook for three years, said: “It would be a crime to close it.

“Everybody there gets on really well and they’ve not long since fitted new windows and redecorated the whole place.”

Anita Hancox, of Age Concern, said: “It would be devastating if it were to close. The people there all look out for each other.

“More facilities are needed in the community but residential nursing homes will always be needed, too.”

Bramblebrook is home to 37 residents, whose ages range from 76 to 102.

Derby City Council’s cabinet has said it would sell the site if the home closes.

The money raised would then be put back into social care, with the aim of providing care for more people in their own homes.

However, residents are strongly against the move and their views will be considered at a meeting of the council’s adult services and health commission, which starts at 6pm today.

In the meantime, more than 1,000 signatures have been collected on the petition, including 150 during the first 15 minutes yesterday.

Lorraine Eccleston, 60, of Franklyn Drive, Alvaston, said: “I signed it because I used to work in a residential home and I know that when people get there they feel settled.

“I feel for them. The need for the home’s there.”

Former sheltered housing warden Maureen Parker, 66, of Keys Street, Derby, who also signed the petition, said: “This is disgusting. To turf them out is wrong.”