Reassurance over Bonnyrigg nursing home closure claims

Claims the residents of a Bonnyrigg care home could be made homeless due to the operator’s financial problems have been strenuously denied.

The GMB union had warned that the 55 occupants of Springfield Bank in Cockpen Crescent – along with the residents of 750 care homes run throughout the UK by Southern Cross Healthcare – faced the prospect of being made homeless as the company struggled to pay rent on its properties and loan repayments.

Southern Cross Healthcare is currently going through a restructuring programme, but insists residents will not be affected by any changes.

Michael MacIntosh, regional director for Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: “In response to recent speculation, I would like to reassure people that residents in our care homes do not face the prospect of being made homeless.”