Repreive for four Northern Irish care homes

Four residential care homes that were under threat of closure have been given a lifeline by Health Minister Edwin Poots.

The homes are Thackeray Place in Limavady, Westlands in Cookstown, Pinewood in Ballymena and Rosedale in Antrim.

Speaking on a tour of the care homes, Mr Poots said: “It wasn’t my policy to close all of the homes in the first place, so in relation to the course of work carried out, I asked Fionnuala McAndrews from the Health and Care Board to carry that out, she reported back to me and there was a strong level of satisfaction about the care that was being received in the homes.

“We still have a problem in that we still have homes that have spaces in them and are not fully utilised.

“What I am asking The Health and Social Care Board to do is look at how we can best utilise the homes, and that may involve using some of the rooms for ‘step down care’ for hospitals and also how they can be used for day support care for people who are still in their own homes.

“I can see how facilities such as this can support Transforming Your Care in providing those day care facilities and also we can reduce the length of time people have to stay in hospital by fully utilising these facilities with quality staff providing that care.”

Senior carer at Thackeray Place, Pamela Campbell, spoke of her relief that their jobs had been secured. She said: “It has been a vigorous campaign and we have fought hard all along the way, so thank God we have now got this news for our residents. This was for them and it shows how important it is to go out and let your voices be heard, and sometimes there are people who listen.

“As regards staff and jobs, this gaive us so much security but it also gave the residents the security that they thought they were getting by coming into residential care.

“They know now that this is their home and they can stay here for as long as they want, and that means so much to them.”