Care homes: council administration accused of lacking honesty

Labour councillors in Fife have accused the SNP/Lib Dem administration of being “less than honest” with the public over the future of the region’s council-run residential care homes.

Alex Rowley and Mark Hood suggest seven of the local authority’s homes have a very real risk of being closed and residents transferred to the private sector.

At a meeting of Fife’s social work and health committee, SNP and Lib Dem councillors voted through a motion that should see the council replace Raith Gates and Appin House in Kirkcaldy with a new build, while another home will be built in Dunfermline to replace Matthew Fyfe.

But the future of the council’s remaining seven care homes is still up for debate, with the SNP/Lib Dem administration pledging to carry out consultation with a view to replacing the existing provision “as and when suitable alternative provision becomes available.”

Mr Rowley has now urged the council to come clean on the issue and confirm whether or not it is proposing to close the seven homes and move the residents into private care.

He said, “There is no doubt in my mind that the council intends to close these homes and it is less than honest of the SNP and Lib Dems to enter into a consultation when they won’t say what they are consulting on.

“It is really straightforward — they need to say are they proposing to close the homes: yes or no?

“For the residents, their families and the staff who have given years of dedicated service they need to know, yes or no, otherwise this can only be described as the most ludicrous and dishonest consultation ever to be undertaken by a public organisation.”

The council’s discussions follow a previous commitment in 2008 to invest £40 million in replacing its ageing care homes, with five new homes planned before 2020. However, the financial climate has forced the council into something of a rethink, with greater reliance on the private or not-for-profit sectors one of the options mooted.

The £40 million replacement programme may yet be seen through by the council, although that is one of the matters being examined as part of the authority’s consultation.

‘Play with words’

Nevertheless, Mr Hood believes the council intends to close the remaining homes and will seek alternative provision in the private sector.

He said, “This is a play with words and we really need some honesty for these seven residential homes are people’s homes and the workers also deserve better — it is their jobs and their futures that are at threat.”

Mr Hood also challenged the £16m price tag of the two planned new homes, adding, “I cannot believe that the new homes in Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline are to cost £8m each. This is just completely over the top and will make these homes the most expensive in the UK.

“The new care homes that have been built in our area in recent years have been less than half that and I am demanding a public inquiry into these costs. I believe that we could get at least four homes for the £16m agreed so we could either refurbish or rebuild a further three homes.”

Mr Hood said Labour would be holding talks with families and trade unions in the coming days and would be launching a wider debate about the costs and quality of care as well as demanding full transparency over the costs of the new homes being planned.

Fife Council has repeatedly stressed that no decision has been taken on the future of the remaining care homes and has urged people to have their say during the ongoing consultation.