Care homes at full capacity but places cut

DUNDEE City Council has scrapped 15% of its care home places despite being at full capacity every year since 2011.

The drop i s due to a change in the way Craigie House, a care home for the elderly, is operated.

Figures obtained under Freedom of Information legislation paint a picture of a system in meltdown as the city’s ageing population faces a decreasing stock of council-run care homes.

Private care firms have been brought in to help plug the gap and have upped their price by 7% year-onyear. A Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership spokesman said: “The situation reflects operational decisions taken over the management of the current Craigie House building. A £6.5 million replacement for Craigie House is in the city council’s capital plan.”

Council care home spots have been full every year since at least 2011-12.There are currently 1,085 places provided by external providers on behalf of Dundee City Council within the boundaries of Dundee. When asked for figures from previous years, the council refused to release the i nformation, claiming it was not held.

A report at the start of December showed the ramifications of reducing care home stock, with city health chiefs now preparing for a £400,000 overspend because of a bed- blocking crisis.

The lack of available care home spaces was cited as one of the main reasons behind more than 21 years of bed use wasted in less than 12 months in Dundee hospitals.

Those figures, presented in a report to the Dundee Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board, also highlighted that an extra 1,000 hours of social care from external providers was being paid for to help plug the problem.