MSP takes care home fight to Holyrood
Latest move in bid to halt closure of Larkhall and Blantyre premises
Plans to close two South Lanarkshire Council-run care homes were debated at the Scottish Parliament last week.
Central Scotland MSP Monica Lennon led the Holyrood debate and called for the SNP administration at the authority to halt the closure of Mcwhirter House in Larkhall and Blantyre’s Kirkton House.
The move will see the homes replaced with a new community hub facility in Blantyre.
However, there are concerns the move won’t offer a like-for-like replacement and will result in a reduced number of long-term care beds.
Leading the debate on Thursday (November 8), Scottish Labour representative Ms Lennon said: “South Lanarkshire Council has an excellent reputation for the eight council care homes that it operates — in 2016, it was rated the best residential care provider in Scotland by Which? magazine.
“However, SLC is under new management and the SNP administration wants to close down some of those fantastic care homes.
“Despite repeated pleas from Scottish Labour councillors, the residents, their families and trade unions such as the GMB and Unison, on behalf of their members who work in the homes, the council is refusing to listen to the case for keeping Kirkton House in Blantyre and Mcwhirter House in Larkhall open.”
She went on: “Although it is welcome that the new Blantyre hub will include transitional care beds and services to help people who are able to return to their own homes, it is not a like-for-like replacement.
“The new SNP administration is making its mark but not in a good way. It has made a deliberate choice to disinvest in long-term, council-run care, but it has not had the courage to be straight with the public.”
Ms Lennon was challenged by SNP and Conservative members, including Fulton Macgregor, SNP MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston.
He said: “I have spoken to officials at SLC and I am told that the closure of the two care homes that Monica Lennon has mentioned, which are not up to a sufficient standard to meet Care Commission requirements, will be offset by the opening of a new modern facility locally that will have a mixture of long-term and intermediate spaces.
“I heard the issues that Monica Lennon raised about the staff. I hope that the council will work with the staff to redeploy them and achieve a satisfactory outcome for them.”
He added: “This is not a debate that was required.”
However Ms Lennon was supported by fellow Labour MSPS, including Glasgow representative James Kelly, who said: “The decision in South Lanarkshire will have an impact on people in Blantyre and, as a Glasgow regional list MSP who covers the Blantyre area, I know that people are deeply concerned about the closure of Kirkton House, which is why campaigners and staff are in the gallery.
“People see the impact of having a home based in the Blantyre area that can look after their relatives and friends, and they see the signal that is being sent about the home closing.
“The decision has two flaws. First, it is one thing to say that Kirkton House will be replaced with a hub on the St Joseph’s site in Blantyre but, if the hub has 100 fewer units, the care facility will be substantially reduced.
“The decision is also short-sighted. In the past couple of days, a report has raised the important issue of demographics and Scotland’s growing elderly population, so why is a care facility being closed and replaced with a hub that will have substantially fewer units?”