Shock Care provider puts plan to close home on pause for review
ASPECIALIST care home for physically disabled adults will not close down next month after its care provider told more than 20 residents to find new accommodation.
Shaftesbury Place, based on Marsland Road in Cheltenham, told its 24 residents and their parents it would close by the end of April, with tenants and residents served notices to leave by April 21.
Operator Sanctuary Supported Living explained the building no longer meets legal requirements set by the Care Quality Commission and cited new guidelines. Parents have been left understandably angry about the closure and working with social workers to find appropriate accommodation.
With four weeks until its closure, Sanctuary Supported Living told parents and lawyers they will not close the complex down next month. The operator will instead enter a formal consultation with residents and their families and assess the impact on its residents.
The message reads: “As our letter of March 22, 2024 explained, we have agreed to conduct a formal consultation with residents and their families, along with further consideration of the impact on residents/tenants. For the avoidance of any doubt, we can also confirm that we have withdrawn the decision of 22 January 2024 to close Shaftesbury Place.
“We will carefully consider any relevant information raised as part of the consultation and the impact assessments before taking a fresh decision. We will inform our residents and tenants of the withdrawal of the decision to close Shaftesbury Place and will provide further information regarding the consultation in due course.”
A spokesperson for Sanctuary Supported Living confirmed the closure of Shaftesbury Place has been delayed for the independent consultation process. A statement reads: “Following discussions with residents and their families, we have committed to conducting an independent consultation process, which will be led by an external company.
“While the consultation is carried out, we will continue to offer all our residents the ongoing support they need.”
One of the parents affected by the closure told the Echo that some staff members had been offered new jobs elsewhere or were expecting redundancy pay-outs. Some of the residents had also found new accommodation.
Roger and Nadia Smith, from Herefordshire, have been grateful to Shaftesbury Place for providing their son Ashley, who is quadriplegic and uses a wheelchair, specialist care for 18 years. They were in “total shock” by the news, which has rocked the community.
Roger said: “In the past few weeks the care staff at Shaftesbury Place have been telling the extremely vulnerable residents that they had to pack and get out by April 21, even though most of them had nowhere to go to. The stress and anguish this caused has been immense.
“We, namely a group of parents and carers, had to write to the senior care staff at Shaftesbury Place last week requesting that this practice stop immediately due to the hurt it was causing.”
Like many other parents, Nadia and Roger both pondered why an alternative venue could not be found or why further investment couldn’t be made into Shaftesbury Place to meet the CQC’S needs. Roger said he wondered whether its closure could be linked to the wider development of Cyber Park.
Roger said: “At the last inspection, the building and the facilities got a Good rating from the CQC. At the moment, it has passed everything with a good rating. I don’t know what could be done or what these CQC recommendations are but three months’ notice is mad.
“What are they going to do with the building once the residents are ‘decanted’ because it is in a luxurious place as it’s near GCHQ? So there may be an awful lot of development work in a very short space of time.”
Sanctuary Supported Living previously explained the building no longer meets legal requirements set by the Care Quality Commission and cited new guidelines. The CQC rated the care home as “Good” in all areas in June 2018 and found no evidence to change the venue’s rating in a review on July 6, 2023.
A spokesperson for Sanctuary said in late February: “While we understand the closure of Shaftesbury Place will be unsettling for residents, the design and layout of the building no longer meets the modern standards expected for this type of facility and the new guidelines being put in place for future CQC inspections.
“We are working closely with the local authority to find suitable alternative accommodation for all the residents and, if needed, we will extend the notice period to find them the right homes. We are absolutely committed to ensuring the moves are handled sensitively and respectfully.”
It is also understood at least 40 staff members are at risk of redundancy. The news has caused understandable frustration and concern among the residents’ families, who are now trying to find alternative accommodation.
A spokesperson for Gloucestershire County Council said: “We are disappointed that the providers have taken the decision to close Shaftesbury Place. We are working with all families impacted by this decision to ensure they are supported to find alternative accommodation.”
In the past few weeks the care staff have been telling the extremely vulnerable residents that they had to pack and get out by April 21, even though most of them had nowhere to go to Roger Smith