PLANS to shut care homes across Scotland and uproot vulnerable tenants have been branded “barbaric” by the families of those affected.
Almost 170 elderly men and women are being moved from their homes after one of Scotland’s biggest care providers announced it was closing its residential offerings.
Edinburgh-based Bield said financial pressures meant it had to “withdraw” from the care home market, but families insisted the move would have a devastating impact on those suffering from dementia and other conditions.
READ MORE: Strangers join local mourners in funeral tribute to widow, 103
And they said they felt ignored by the Scottish Government after repeatedly raising the issue with senior figures – only to receive “churned out”, dismissive responses.
It comes as Bield revealed it was in "advanced discussions" about handing over four care homes in Edinburgh, Fife and Jedburgh to new providers – leaving eight still facing closure.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said the situation should “act as a wake-up call” to properly fund care in Scotland.
He insisted the care sector was on the brink of collapse due to the SNP’s failure to fund councils properly, adding: “Last Saturday Labour MSPs attended the ‘Save Our Bield’ campaign group meeting in Glasgow.
“They heard families tell of the stress their frail, elderly relatives are under because they are about to be evicted from their specialist care home. These are people in their 70s, their 80s, even their 90s.”
READ MORE: Strangers join local mourners in funeral tribute to widow, 103
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Mr Leonard raised the case of 94-year-old Nancy Sutherland, who has been a Bield tenant at Grants Bank in Dunfermline for 23 years and is now set to lose her home.
Due to memory problems, Mrs Sutherland asks her family every day where she will be moving to, Mr Leonard said – forcing her to “relive the trauma” and increasing her anxiety.
Her daughter Nancy Sutherland-Brown told The Herald she felt “very despondent” over the lack of support from the Scottish Government and Bield.
She said: “I have written to just about everybody I can think of writing to. I just feel like we are being kept in the dark and fed rubbish.
“This is just huge for my mum to be honest – huge for all of us. I just can’t quite get my head around how it can be allowed to happen.”
Laura Owens, a member of the Save Our Bield campaign, said the decision to close the homes was “barbaric”.
Her 87-year-old gran, Christina Wilson – a tenant at Bield’s Thornton Gardens home in Bonnybridge – suffers from dementia and Ms Owens fears being uprooted could have a devastating impact on her health.
She said: “I’m really concerned about what’s going to happen. Her confusion is going to increase. As soon as my gran gets anxious she stops eating.
“There was an elderly women who left last week kicking and screaming. She didn’t understand why she was being moved to another care home. This was a woman who, because of her cognitive impairment – her memory – believes she’s at fault.
“A lot of these people have dementia and other memory problems. They will probably never get their head around this."
READ MORE: Strangers join local mourners in funeral tribute to widow, 103
Ms Owens said campaigners had been trying to get Nicola Sturgeon to sit down with interested parties to discuss the issue since October.
And she said Justice Secretary Michael Matheson, her local MSP, had simply told her “there’s not a bottomless pit of money”.
She added: “I just feel like nobody is listening to us. It’s an absolute shambles."
In a letter to Mrs Sutherland-Brown, Bield said it was struggling under combined deficits of £350,000, and had been “working closely” with councils since last summer.
It said it would have been “very open” to any proposal from Fife Council to take over the care home, but was eventually left with “no alternative” but closure.
Responding to Mr Leonard at First Minister’s Questions, Ms Sturgeon said: "It is exactly because we realise how unsettling, indeed how traumatic this decision has been and will be for residents, their families and employees that the Scottish Government will continue to work to ensure we can do everything we can to guarantee continuity of care for these residents and make sure there is no compromise whatsoever in the quality of their care."
She said Health Secretary Shona Robison would be happy to meet with families.
READ MORE: Strangers join local mourners in funeral tribute to widow, 103
A Bield spokesman said it was not until "all avenues were exhausted" that the decision was taken to close, with tenants and their families set to be offered individual meetings in the near future.
He added: “Bield are currently in advanced discussions for four Care Homes in Edinburgh, Fife and Jedburgh and negotiations are progressing well. We are very hopeful that these homes will transfer to the new providers.
"Of the remaining eight care homes, the closures have been phased over two dates. Grants Bank in Dunfermline is in phase two scheduled for closure in July 2018.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel