Moray old folk 'will not be moved from home'
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ANXIOUS residents of a Moray nursing home have been given an assurance they will not have to move – despite the collapse of the company which operates it.
Meadowlark Nursing Home in Forres is one of 752 across the UK operated by Southern Cross which this week announced it is to cease trading due to financial problems.
The Forres home has more than 60 elderly residents and although they have been assured that their care needs will continue to be met, it is not clear who will take over the running of the home.
With the ongoing closure of Leanchoil Hospital in Forres, NHS Grampian currently commissions two beds at Meadowlark but the bulk are commissioned by Moray Council, and there is a small number of private residents.
Forres councillor Lee Bell, chair of the health and social care committee, said contingency plans are in place through the Moray Community Health and Social Care Partnership, a collaboration of the council and NHS Grampian, in the event of the worst case scenario of a new operator not being found for the home.
“It is bound to be unsettling for the residents and their relatives and the last thing they would want to do is move,” he said.
“CoSLA and the Scottish Government have contingency plans in place and if push came to shove we would step in locally.
“The residents and relatives can be rest assured that it will be covered, but I don’t think it will come to that.”
Councillor Bell believes a new operator will be found to take over Meadowlark.
Southern Cross has 752 homes across the UK which between them have 32,000 residents.
Colin Lipscomb, secretary of Forres Community Council, has first-hand experience of Meadowlark after his mother Faith was a resident there before her death.
“I am shocked by the situation and can’t believe how, all of a sudden, Southern Cross cannot afford to pay their rents,” he said. “It will be a worrying time for the residents and their families.”
Mr Lipscomb, whose mother had dementia, said change of any kind was destabilising and upsetting for elderly residents.
“You can sit people at a different meal table and it causes them to panic. The ideal situation is for somebody to take over Meadowlark and for the staff to remain the same.”
See Friday's Northern Scot for full story.
