Gareth Johnson in care homes debate

Today, at 1.00pm, Gareth Johnson will be taking part in a Westminster Hall debate to discuss the closure of Kent care homes.
Gareth will say: “The Limes is a Care and Day centre that offers a fairly unique service in Kent. Many of my constituents have benefitted from its service over many years.

It allows patients who would otherwise need to remain in hospital to be discharged to the care of The Limes. Thereby relieving pressure on the local hospital.

That hospital is daren’t Valley Hospital which has recently had to deal with extra pressure after the A&E Dept at nearby St Mary’s Hospital closed its doors. I fear that the closure of the Limes can only add to the pressure on my local hospital. Patients that might otherwise have been discharged to the Limes will have to either remain at Darent Valley hospital or find alternative care home provision. Well that provision is going to be harder to find if care homes are being closed across the county.

The Save The Limes campaign group have been passionate in standing up for the Care Home and none less so than Laura Whitehead who has set out the huge mistake it would be to close The limes. It has been claimed that the Limes is very expensive to run yet the staff have never been given an opportunity to reduce the cost of care provision in the home. They have never shown any reluctance to modernise or introduce efficiency savings.

Likewise for Manorbrooke.

A residential care home earmarked for closure. The plan for Manorbrooke is that it be demolished and another modern facility built on the same site. This would lead to the residents having to leave their current home, move elsewhere and then back to the new Manorbrooke a couple of years later. Three different homes in two years. Surely our elderly deserve better. Yes there will be larger rooms, with gymnasiums and internet cafes but what we are talking about here is the demolition of peoples homes. The residents are happy where they are, very happy and want to stay where they are.

Yvette Knight has worked extremely hard to keep this care home open and has approached the issue with a dignified and commendable attitude.

There is though enormous frustration by those supporting both The Limes and Manorbrooke about the closure programme.
Surely land could have been purchased to build a new care home on before the closure of the existing home took place. Just one home closure in Kent could have been closed for this to happen and the money used as part of a rolling programme across the County of modernising care home provision.

I hope that even at this late stage that the homes can be saved. That an alternative can be found by KCC. I understand what KCC are trying to achieve but I feel that the planned process of closure is wrong, very wrong and a rethink is needed”.

The Minister will attend to answer MPs questions.

Representatives from Manorbrooke and The Limes (Save the Lions Campaign Group) from Dartford will be attendance.ENDS