Care unit bid aims to ease bed pressures at hospital
BED pressure at Macclesfield Hospital and a shortage of nursing home capacity could be eased by a new 55-bed short-term care unit.
Cheshire East Council has received a planning application from Newlife Community Partnership for the care facility at the junction of the A54 and A523, in Bosley.
Residents in the area have expressed concerns and the development has been branded ‘ridiculous’ in one objection.
But those behind the proposals say the stays of up to six weeks it offers would help the area’s stretched NHS and council services by taking people from hospital more quickly.
Agents for the development, Epoch Architects, provided a report for the application saying: “The facility will provide shortterm care and support to local hospitals such as Leighton and Macclesfield. This will be done by reducing delayed transfer rates and freeing up much needed primary care hospital beds.
“There is an acute shortage of nursing home capacity. Newlife Community Partnership is well placed to assist Cheshire East Council in addressing these issues through a flexible and fluid care model.”
The application is an amended resubmission of one that was refused and said to have provided insufficient information.
People transferred to the unit would either return home after their stay or go into longer-term care elsewhere. It would have 35 private rooms and three wards totalling another 20 beds.
The report states: “The traditional care home model does not lend itself to rehabilitating people back to independence.
“Therefore people referred there often lose more of their independence which can be at the cost to the public purse and debilitating for the individual.”
Activities at the home would be open to residents in the area as would an on-site bistro.
But those living in the area have raised concerns that busy nearby roads with fast-moving vehicles and poor public transport would leave the unit’s residents stranded. An objection to developing the green belt was also made.
Martin Wilshaw said: “The proposal to change this area to a care facility is absolutely ridiculous.”
The report by Epoch says the development is 500m from a bus stop, have positive regeneration benefits and a large amount of on-site amenity space for residents.