Knapdale ward and its place in the future of dementia care
Situated on the lower ground floor of Mid Argyll Hospital in Lochgilphead, Knapdale ward was designed as a 12bed inpatient dementia unit.
When it was opened in 2006 the hospital, with 45 beds, was designed as a ‘one-stop-shop’, with all health and social care services under one roof.
In the words of NHS Highland at the time, it ‘aimed to substantially increase services and the amount of care delivered locally by establishing a new service model and facilities that can support it effectively’.
Against a background of increasing austerity in public finances, in 2010 the emphaAt sis moved towards dementia care in the community and dementia teams were set up in each Argyll and Bute locality.
In February 2018 Knapdale ward, by then an eight-bed facility with seven patients being cared for at the time, was temporarily closed to new admissions. Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) said this was due to ‘recruitment issues’ with nursing staff.
Since then a Dementia Services Review Group has been established by the HSCP.
The outcome of this review was that Knapdale ward – with three remaining inpatients – should be closed, with investment instead in sustainable community dementia services across Argyll and Bute.
The recommendation had been an open secret for a while, with some suspecting the decision had been made, without proper consultation, in the summer of 2019 or before.
When the review group’s recommendations were placed in front of the HSCP’s governing body, Argyll and Bute Integration Joint Board (IJB), on January 29, unions, staff and members of the public were united in opposition, making their feelings plain in a protest outside Kilmory as the IJB gathered.
Trade union UNISON presented a 3,000-signature petition, in support of keeping the ward open, to IJB chairman Keiron Green.