Strontian care home success
After almost a year of campaigning, Dail Mhor House care home in Strontian will open its doors to residents next month for the first time since last August.
The facility was suddenly closed last summer in order to deal with an emergency plumbing issue, and since then the Strontian community has been campaigning to prevent the closure of the home ‘by the back door’ and stop residents from being ‘shipped out’ to other care facilities.
The campaign – which amassed 2,000 signatures on its petition – lobbied NHS Highland to secure the future of the care home, which has been identified by local GPs as the most critical need for healthcare in the area.
This week, final building work was completed and staff are getting ready to welcome the first group of respite clients who are expected in July.
‘After a great deal of pressure from residents and community councillors meeting with officials, we’re pleased that Dail Mhor will reopen, even if for the foreseeable future it won’t operate as a fulltime residential care home,’ said James Hilder, chairman of the combined community councils’ working group.
‘Rather than have no care centre locally, we’ve tried to work pragmatically with NHS managers, reopening the building part-time to meet immediate respite need.
‘It is our hope that now this service is available it will build up and we really need any families who would like a respite service to talk to their GP or care worker to request the service.
‘This will help to develop regular opening hours so that in the not-too-distant future we’ll have a more comprehensive range of care services being delivered for the benefit of local residents – near and far.’
Campaigners repeatedly criticised NHS Highland for the ‘appalling way in which the facility was closed’, with residents virtually ‘shipped out overnight’, and the way in which dedicated staff were treated throughout the process.
‘Those criticisms haven’t gone away,’ said Joanne Matheson, of Acharacle Community Council. ‘We
truly hope that NHS Highland will think twice before treating any other patients, families and communities with such contempt, but now’s the time for us to celebrate success. We’re a long way from achieving the modern, thriving hub we envisage, but this is a very positive place for us to be starting from.’
With work in the building now completed, the building has been deep-cleaned and a weekly physiotherapy service, delivered from Dail Mhor, started yesterday (Wednesday June 20).
‘It is extremely regrettable that so many people had to go to so much trouble and effort to get the attention of NHS Highland over this issue,’ said John Jones, of Sunart Community Council. ‘Thankfully, we’ve had the support of the board of directors in agreeing that it is wholly unacceptable for facilities to be closed without notice, and without adequate alternative arrangements in place.
‘We could not have got to where we are now if it hadn’t been for the massive support and help we’ve had from a large number of people throughout Lochaber and beyond, and the working group are extremely grateful for everything they’ve done.’
The local primary health care team has been liaising closely with the working group and is supportive of the future plans for Dail Mhor. The team is understood to have been the first to highlight the desperate need for respite accommodation locally, and pointed out that the availability of respite care at short notice will help keep people out of hospital.
The working group acknowledges that finding good and reliable staff to undertake care work is particularly difficult in remote rural communities. Work will need to be done to build trust again in the NHS locally, and a concerted, ongoing programme of recruitment will need to take place.
Ross Mackenzie, area manager for the west, added: ‘We will continue to work with both the community and our Highland Council colleagues to explore additional alternative models of care for the future. This will include housing-based solutions in local communities that will help support residents to remain in their own homes for longer, which will complement the provision of locally-based respite.’
The five community councils working together to try to persuade NHS Highland to reopen the Dail Mhor House care home in Strontian are planning afternoon and evening open-house sessions on Monday June 25. The sessions will provide an opportunity for anyone to come and look around the building, to offer suggestions about what services they would like to see run from the building and to discuss short-term plans and longerterm options.
Anyone is welcome to dropin between 2pm and 4pm. At 7pm there will be a short presentation when the working group will give an update on what has been happening and people can ask questions and offer ideas. Other open house events are being planned, and a full public meeting is due to take place in late July.