Council Slated Over Handling Of Nursing Home Closure

RELATIVES and community leaders are calling for a public inquiry following a report which criticised East Lothian Council’s handling of the closure of a troubled nursing home.

The Scottish Labour leader, Iain Gray MSP, has joined the calls, saying the council’s lack of communication was “shocking”, and that the report leaves significant questions unanswered.

Cockenzie House Nursing Home closed in April this year, after critical reports from the Care Commission. The council rejected owner Jim McDonald’s offer to lease the home, and instead moved residents to other homes.

He had said he was unable to keep it open for financial reasons due to the ban on new admissions.

A local GP has said the stress and disruption could have contributed to the death of 21 residents leading up to and following the move.

The independent consultant, Peter Daniels OBE, former chief executive of East Renfrewshire Council, made eight recommendations in his report, including ensuring there are adequate staff in the adult social care department and changing the way the council gives contracts to private homes. He also called on the council to “urgently revisit” its communication strategy.

The review covers the period from 2001 until 2008. It involved face-to-face interviews with the owner and staff at Cockenzie House Nursing Home, relatives, doctors, NHS staff and the Care Commission.

Councillor Ruth Currie, the council’s adult social care leader, said: “We will be making sure that the recommendations contained within the report are implemented as appropriate.”

Mr Gray, who represents East Lothian, said “significant questions” had been left unanswered.

He said: “The Daniels report still leaves me wondering how it can be that East Lothian Council and the Care Commission between them could not find a solution whereby Cockenzie House residents continued to receive care without being moved.

“Why were residents moved to another nursing home with similar Care Commission concerns outstanding, and what was the impact on the wellbeing of residents who moved?

“I think relatives of residents are entitled to answers and further investigation. Services for the elderly in East Lothian seem to be descending into chaos.”

Many relatives and community leaders said they were unsatisfied with the report. Local GP Dr Jonathan Turvill has already said there were an “unusually high” number of deaths around the time of the move, although it was impossible to say they were as a direct result of the switch.

Donald Sowden, of Port Seton, whose wife Dorothy, 83, was moved from Cockenzie House Nursing Home, said: “This is too little and too late. The damage is now done.”

Although satisfied with his wife’s care at her new home, Greenfield Park Nursing Home in Musselburgh, he said he would like to see a public inquiry.

“No-one has ever answered our questions about closing the home,” he said. Reverend Robert Glover, who organised the Cockenzie House Action Group, said “A lot of people are very angry because councillors never visited the home when this was all happening. They refused to come to the public meetings. ‘Ignorant’ and ‘arrogant’ are the words that people are using.”

Deputy council leader Stuart Currie, who represents Preston, Seton and Gosford, said he had decided it would be inappropriate to attend public meetings, as he could not disclose commercially sensitive information about the finances of the home.