Fight to save Bield housing
Axe is hanging over 12 sites
Families who have loved ones living at crisis-hit Bield care homes have launched a fight to keep them open.
Bield Housing recently announced their decision to close all 12 care homes in Scotland which includes facilities at Uphall and Linlithgow.
But campaigners whose relatives have been affected by this decision have decided to fight back and have launched a campaign to save them.
Lynne Boyd, from Livingston, is one of the organisers of the Save Our Bield campaign and says she does not want to see her mother “evicted” from her home.
The group will now provide evidence on December 12 to the Health and Sports Committee at the Scottish Parliament on the impact of closures on their elderly relatives.
The committee are holding a specially convened meeting to discuss care home sustainability in light of the Bield situation and a petition will also be handed over.
Lynne explained: “We are devastated at the thought that all of the Bield Care Home Residents, many of whom like my mother suffer from dementia, are effectively at risk of being evicted from the places they call home and will suffer greatly from being moved to an unfamiliar environment.
“My 88-year-old mother, Euphemia Hunter has been resident at Bield St Andrew’s Court Care Home in Uphall for nine months.
“Although she has suffered from dementia for around five years, it was only after suffering a broken wrist as a result of a fall in August 2016 and being admitted to hospital that her medical team concluded she was unfit to return to her own home.
“Due to the unavailability of a place, she spent the following six weeks in the gynaecology ward of St John’s Hospital before being offered a temporary place at Craigmair Interim Care Facility in Livingston.
“She resided in Craigmair for five months and was just beginning to settle in there when she was uprooted again when the permanent place at St Andrew’s Court became available.
“Although any change is detrimental to the health and wellbeing of people suffering from dementia, we knew another move from her interim home was inevitable and were happy that as, at last, she had a permanent home.
“Although I am her only child, the wider family also breathed a huge sigh of relief as they too were concerned that she had been bounced from pillar to post.”
Lynne continued: “She receives a high standard of care in St Andrew’s Court.
“The staff’s attention to detail ensures the care she receives is tailored to her needs. She is thriving in her Bield Home and it would be cruel, as well as detrimental to her physical and mental health, to move her again.
“I met with her psychiatrist last week and he was appalled.”
Brian Logan, chief executive of Bield, said it had been a “very difficult decision” to withdraw from the residential care home market.
He continued: “Like others in the social care sector, we are facing challenges and financial constraints meaning we constantly have to look differently at how we operate. Reliance on the public sector to fund our business continues to be eroded.
“We are aware of the serious impact these changes will make to people, their families and our staff.
“Those impacted have been advised and in the coming weeks and months we will be holding consultation meetings to communicate the reasons for the decision and discuss what options are available – with the aim of minimising the impact as far as possible.” The group have started a Facebook page called Help Keep Bi eld Care Homes Open. The link is https://www. facebook.com/ helpbield carehomes/.