Is old age safe under the Tories?

Consultation on care homes to go ahead but there will be no repairs.

A controversial decision to consult on whether 7 of Derbyshire County Council's care homes should be closed had a bizarre twist when the Tory members of the Improvement and Scrutiny Committee passed the following motion

' to advise Cabinet that as to carry out all of the necessary repairs and refurbishments would not make the seven homes fit for purpose in order to provide good and appropriate care for the residents of Derbyshire, it would seem inappropriate to undertake that work'.

We think that means they intend to "consult" current residents and their families but one of the options cannot be continuing in their existing care home that would have been re-furbished.

"Pie in the sky before you die?"

The Tory position seems to be to dismiss all that is currently being achieved in the existing care homes (which may well have maintenance issues) because they are not shiny new cutting edge buildings. This is disappointing for both residents and care home staff.

If the Conservative controlling group were prepared to stand by their pre-election commitment to build new state of the art care homes to replace those they describe as less than ideal, then shouldn't there be one taking shape in eg Bakewell before they start considering moving residents out of Gernon Manor, the DCC care home in the town?

Derbyshire Lib Dems have launched a petition to reject the option of closure of the 7 care homes identified in the cabinet report and call for future options based on Derbyshire County Council as a provider of Direct Care Homes for Older People. See here for full details.