Highland Council no to new care homes

Highland Council chiefs confirmed a badly-kept secret yesterday – that they want councillors to scrap the local authority’s £30million pledge to construct five care homes.

A report for next Thursday’s full council meeting says there is “no economic case” for the authority to continue with the project “when the resulting costs will be higher than those incurred by procurement of places from the independent sector”. The briefing, by the directors of finance, social work and housing concludes the economic, environmental and social benefits of building care homes in Inverness, Tain, Grantown, Fort William and Muir of Ord are “worthwhile”. But they add that the proposals “do not in themselves justify the scale of the investment and do not represent best value for the council”.

The 80 councillors are being asked to gauge public opinion on the issue that will be considered as part of a full debate on the council’s 2010-15 capital spending programme at a meeting on June 24.

The officials’ report takes into account future demand for residential care, comparative costs within the private sector and “social and economic impact on the locality”.

It notes that some existing council care homes are in “very poor physical condition”, that they all need modernising and that there is “no evidence to suggest standards in council-run care homes are higher than in the independent sector”.

The directors acknowledge an expected increase in the number of frail, older people in the region. But they claim “advances in assistive technology and the expansion of care-at-home aims to support more people in the community”, which “will mitigate future demand for care home places”.

The council seeks £36m savings over three years to balance future budgets.

There are currently 46 privately-run care homes in the Highlands. The council purchases 76% of available places. About 14% of care home places in the Highlands are delivered by the council.