CLOSURE OF CARE HOME SLAMMED AS ‘ DISGUSTING’
A PAISLEY care home will close as health and social care costs are slashed in Renfrewshire a decision that has been slammed as “disgusting”.
Montrose Care Home in Heriot Avenue, Foxbar, will shut down in a move that comes as a blow to its elderly residents, their families and staff.
Members of the integration joint board ( IJB) responsible for oversight of Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership ( HSCP) voted 6- 2 to reduce the care home estate on Friday, with the axe falling on Montrose.
Deborah Stafford, whose 90- year- old mum Joyce McMenemy is a resident, said: “I just feel it’s a disgusting decision and I can’t even understand why it was taken in the first place to close a care home.
“I haven’t even told my mum yet that this was all happening because with her dementia this is going to completely unsettle her.
“I don’t know how she’s going to handle the move. It’s just going to be devastating.
“It’s her safe place, it’s where she knows, and for us now to have to uproot her and move to one of the other care facilities is going to be devastating.
“But we’re not going to go down without a fight.”
More than 2,000 people have signed a petition opposing the closure of the home and campaigners gathered at Renfrewshire House in Paisley on Thursday afternoon to make their voices heard.
Shannon Fennelly, a social care assistant at Montrose, said: “It’s absolutely shocking, more so for the residents. They’ve worked their whole lives to live comfortably in retirement and to be safe and protected.
“And now through no fault of
their own it’s a situation that has nothing to do with them they’ve lost their homes. It’s unsettling.
“These residents are used to us every single day, they are used to their routine every single day. For all of that to be taken away, it’s disgusting.”
According to a report to the IJB, closing the home will provide a saving of £ 399,000.
It said admissions to its three homes which also include Hunterhill and Renfrew will be paused to allow bed numbers to be balanced and capacity used for the 36 affected residents.
The report added that there would be a period of at least four months before residents would move to a new home, unless an individual and their family wanted to move sooner.
Councillor Iain McMillan, a Labour representative for Johnstone South and Elderslie, was one of two who voted to reject the closure of Montrose.
He said: “It is their homes, it’s where they live and I know some of them have been there for a number of years.
“I know how traumatic it can be for residents and their families if they’re having to leave.”
Councillor Jacqueline Cameron, an SNP representative for the same area, was one of six who voted to approve the closure.
She said: “It’s not something that sits comfortably with any of us but I think, as I say, I’m confident that this can be handled sensitively by the HSCP staff.”