Care Home Threat Petition

[deirdreh]

There is a petition circulating to stop this closure in Campbeltown in the petrol station, community centre and a few other places. There may be places where the petition is available in Tarbert and Lochgilphead but I cannot tell you where. It needs to be signed by Tuesday for presentation at a meeting. It is the only facility like this in Argyll & Bute so it serves all of us if we need respite care, now or in the future.

From: http://www.argyllshireadvertiser.co.uk/ ... hreat.html

Care home threat
Argyll and Bute Council are ‘running the place down’ to save money
Published: 06 February, 2009
THE HUSBAND of a resident at an under-threat care home in Lochgilphead said this week that Argyll and Bute Council are ‘running the place down’ in an effort to save money.

The council’s Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands area committee heard this week that Fyneview Respite House in Lochgilphead, which is jointly commissioned by the council and NHS Highland, is one of the most expensive resources the council runs.

Councillors heard that it costs just over £250,000 to run every year, with costs of over £1,700 per client each week compared to between £450 and £520 in other council respite homes.

The report states: ‘The cost per annum for each respite room in Fyneview is £85,683. This is in comparison to £27,214 per annum for a respite room providing nursing care in a care home. Older people enjoy going to Fyneview as it is a ‘cosy’ three-bed respite unit, with one-to-one staffing levels and support available at all times to them.’

However Denis Burk, whose wife, Pauline, uses Fyneview for respite care, after suffering a series of multiple strokes, said: ‘It’s absolutely vital, it’s essential, we couldn’t cope otherwise. The figures are all weighted against Fyneview. They are all false figures, loaded with administrative costs and void rates.

‘Since the council took the policy of not referring people to Fyneview at the beginning of November last year there have been 230 vacant days unutilized, that’s days that they have already paid for at a cost of £56,000. This is all in an effort to run the place down.’

[Ags]

Thank you for bringing this to the fore Deirdre! It's a subject very close to our hearts as my mother in law has been a regular user 3 or 4 times a year for the past few years! The threatened closure has caused a huge amount of stress to my sister in law as she fights tooth and nail to keep the service going! A losing battle no doubt!!
May has a very active mind it's just that her 85 years old legs don't work as well as they used to. She looks forward to her respite care at Fyneview probably more than the family look forward to their break! She is treated with the utmost care and respect by very pleasant and helpful staff who seem to be completely in the dark as to what is happening with their jobs!! Like Mr Burks quote in the courier/argyllshire advertiser we believe these are false figures weighted against the care home! As far as I am aware there are quite a few regular users from this area so hopefully we can get a few signatures on these petitions!!