McClymont House: Outrage over Lanark care home closure plan

The council-owned home is consistently rated among the best in Scotland by inspectors, but South Lanarkshire officials want to replace it with "progressive" social housing as part of a money-saving "repurposing" of residential care.

The 27-bed facility currently has 17 residents, many in their 80s and 90s with advanced dementia or Alzheimer's.

A petition against the closure has already attracted more than 2,500 signatures amid a backlash from the local community.

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Allanna Macdonald, whose 92-year-old mother is bedridden with advanced Alzheimer's and dementia has been at McClymont for five and a half years, said: "My mum would not survive a move - 100% she would not survive it - so for them to say that there was no detrimental effect on moving elderly people is completely untrue.

"I find it disgusting. It's just the easiest thing: 'we'll save money if we close that home'."

McClymont House in Lanark has been consistently rated 'excellent' or 'very good' by inspectors who praised its 'welcoming' atmosphere and the 'strong commitment' of staff (Image: Gordon Terris/Herald&Times)

Prior to going into McClymont, her mother lived at home with four visits a day by carers but her illness meant she was often found in the morning "wet and cold on the floor" having been unable to get to the bathroom.

Ms Macdonald said she and her sister have been delighted by the quality of care and accommodation provided, which includes everything from a Baby Grand piano and a fish tank to regular entertainment and birthday tea parties.

She said: "The staff go above and beyond. We visited a lot of private homes before mum got that room and I wouldn't have sent her to any of them to be truthful.

"We won't go down without a fight. I would barricade myself in my Mum's room if I had to - they can take me out kicking and fighting."

Families were informed of the planned closure in an email "out of the blue" from South Lanarkshire Integrated Joint Board (IJB) on September 14 - just a day after receiving letters notifying them that the fees were to increase by around £25 a week, with costs backdated to April.

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However, an emergency meeting of the IJB on September 19 ended in deadlock after the voting panel - made up of four South Lanarkshire councillors, two Labour and two SNP, and four NHS Lanarkshire representatives - were split four to four.

If no agreement can be reached, decision-making could ultimately pass to the Scottish Government.

Professor Soumen Sengupta, chief officer for the South Lanarkshire IJB said the proposals put forward to IJB members were “not to close the homes but to carry out a consultation” with families, residents and stakeholders in relation to proposed closures.

Prof Sengupta said: “No agreement was reached around the proposals. At this point we are not at a stage of moving to formal consultation.

"Reports taken to the IJB over many months have underlined the seriousness of the budget gap, with an anticipated £26million shortfall in social care funding for 2024/25.

"Members were advised that while this position was due to forces outside of our control, extraordinarily tough choices would need to be confronted if we are to prioritise and protect the most at-risk and vulnerable in our communities.”

Prof Soumen Sengupta said they are seeking the IJB's approval to move to a formal consultation on the proposals to close McClymont House along with Dewar House in Hamilton (Image: NHS Lanarkshire)

In its report ahead of the meeting, IJB bosses said "difficult choices" had to be made in light of a £7m gap in its 2023/24 budget.

Closing McClymont House and a second council-run care home in Hamilton, the 16-bed Dewar House, was projected to deliver savings of £1.5m annually - including £786,000 from McClymont.

The IJB stressed that the move came in a context of "significant investment" of £27.3m in community health and social care services since 2021, including an expansion of hospital-at-home.

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It added that previous public consultations had identified keeping people in their own homes for longer as a "key priority" and that "exploratory discussions" have already identified McClymont as a potential site for redevelopment into progressive social housing.

The model envisioned would "[maintain] a level of independent living for tenants in suitable housing for individuals with varying needs" with levels of support "adjusted according to the assessed needs of those tenants".

McClymont House resident, Rebecca Parker, plays the home's piano in n 2020. The retired teacher made headlines after raising over £10,000 for charity (Image: PA)

There has been anger, however, at what sources describe as "mistruths".

The IJB report states that only 17 out of the 27 beds at McClymont are occupied and that one of its three nine-bed wings has been decommissioned "to minimise unnecessary operating costs" amid a "decrease in demand and ongoing recruitment challenges".

However, the Herald understands that home's management has come under pressure over the past year not to recruit any new staff or to open the empty wing to new residents despite regular phonecalls from people keen to secure a place for their loved ones in the highly-rated home.

This has led to a perception that McClymont House is being "run down" on purpose, to justify its closure.

The IJB report insists that there are 10 other care homes in the Lanark area providing a mix of residential and nursing care which combined have 41 bed vacancies to accommodate the 32 McClymont and Dewar House residents.

As a result, the IJB said there is "not expected to be any adverse impact on the health and social care outcomes" for residents.

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Relatives counter that this contradicts "mountains of research" about the harm sudden changes in environment cause to people with cognitive impairment.

Dale Rob, whose 84-year-old mother has vascular dementia and has been in McClymont for a year, said even afternoon trips out of the home can be "unsettling".

She said: "Relocation would be disastrous. We don't want the stress and angstof taking her away from anything familiar.

"We've spent a lot of time as a family getting our heads around the whole 'put your mum in a home situation'.

"Having taken just over a year to come to terms with that the last thing we want to do is cause any further angst and upset to my mum or ourselves.

"I work for a local authority, I know how this goes, but it's a quick fix to fill a budget gap that it going to put vulnerable people at a greater risk than they need to be."

Entrance to McClymont House in Lanark. A petition against its proposed closure has already attracted more than 2,500 signatures (Image: Gordon Terris/Herald&Times)

Phil Dibdin's mother Rebecca Parker lived at McClymont for six and a half years until her death in 2022, making headlines in 2020 when she raised over £10,000 for the NHS by playing the home's piano every day for 100 days.

He previously fought proposals to close McClymont five years ago and described the latest plans as "despicable".

He said: "Instead of closing it they should be proud to have such a facility. If they had any type of innovation they could use that as a blueprint to train up other homes.

"Instead they're spinning this story that folk don't need care homes - they're going to be looked after at home. That's a great aspiration but it's a false economy.

"In the 18 months before my mother went into McClymont she spent a month convalescing in Lockhart hospital, two weeks in Wishaw General, she was taken away once by ambulance, and she was at A&E twice.

"In the six and a half years she was in McClymont, nothing - she never had to go near the hospital.

"My mother-in-law, she went downhill with dementia. In her own house - didn't know what time it was, where she was, barely recognising any relatives, and getting four 15 minute carer visits a day.

"Nothing against them - they're doing their best - but the other 23 hours she's staring at a wall, and they're telling us that's better than being in McClymont?"