‘Mothballing’ could save care homes

SOME care homes could be ‘mothballed’ to prevent them going out of business entirely following the coronavirus crisis, councillors in Halton heard.

Care homes in the borough have already suffered 47 deaths over the course of the crisis but many are now also facing financial problems as they struggle to fill vacant beds.

At a meeting of the council’s health and wellbeing policy and performance board on Tuesday evening, council officer Louise Wilson told councillors: “A lot of the care homes are well under 80% occupancy, which is a challenge for them around the sustainability of those homes.”

One of the borough’s care homes, Ryan Care Residential in Runcorn, has already been forced to close after being unable to fill a third of its beds.

The council had been providing financial support for care homes with empty beds, including Ryan Care, but this has since been withdrawn. In Ryan

Care’s case, this left the home with no option but to close.

To prevent further closures, Ms Wilson added, the council was ‘supporting our sector with maybe mothballing some units, so closing some units where there are vacancies to help their money go as far as it can.’

However, in response to a question from Cllr Mark Dennett, she said the main issue confronting Halton’s care homes was public confidence in their safety.

She said: “I think when you look at a lot of people’s confidence levels, because of the national press and the national stories that are out there, people’s confidence levels are low.”

With little confidence that they are now safe, many people are choosing to avoid care homes, contributing to the homes’ financial problems.

Ms Wilson stressed that regular testing was being carried and said there was currently only one outbreak in one care home in the borough.