St Elizabeth's confirms intention to close Perry Green care home
The closure of St Elizabeth's care home for severely disabled adults has been confirmed, despite a campaign by anguished families to halt the plans.
After two months of turmoil, they now have just over two months to find new specialist accommodation for 83 residents with epilepsy and other complex medical needs.
In a website statement, the trustees of St Elizabeth's Centre at Perry Green said: "It is heartbreaking to have to take this step, but any compromise to the safety of residents or reduction in the quality of our care is simply not in keeping with our ethos and is a long way from the type of service we have made our name in providing."
The charity, which also runs a residential school and college at the site for children and young people with epilepsy and other complex conditions, first announced its intention to shut the home in July.
That followed a damning report in March from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The health watchdog inspected the 11 bungalows and three single-occupancy flats in a campus-style community in November 2021 and rated the operation 'inadequate'.
At the same time, the watchdog also scrutinised the performance of St Elizabeth's Domiciliary Care Agency and identified the same shortcomings. The supported living service provides personal care for people with learning disabilities and autism on the college site and in individual flats.
Despite the care and safety issues identified, the families of care home residents were convinced the services could be restored to their previously good standards. They were also adamant that four months was a deadline they could not hope to meet.
After they threatened legal action, the trustees halted closure plans and began a 36-day consultation, which ended on September 13.
However, a second CQC report, published in August after reinspections in June, identified the same shortcomings with safety and standards of care.
As a result, St Elizabeth's was issued with two Notices of Decision to cancel its registration as a provider in respect of the care home and the supported living service.
There was still a glimmer of hope for families that the closure could be prevented when St Elizabeth's appealed, but that dream has now been dashed.
The trustees said: "In the last two years, St Elizabeth's Adult Care Home has faced two unprecedented challenges – the Covid-19 pandemic, and a chronic national shortage of trained staff."
Earlier this year the centre invested £2m in better staff wages but to no avail against this unrelenting pressure: "It has become only too clear that we can no longer guarantee the safety of our adult residents because we cannot recruit and retain sufficient numbers of trained staff.
"In the best interests of those in our care, and with no prospect of safely staffing the service in the longer term or meeting the standards required of us, the trustees of St Elizabeth's have reluctantly concluded they have no option other than to seek to close our adult care home on November 30, 2022.
"We will be discussing the basis on which we will do this with the CQC and local authority to ensure we are all satisfied that the safety of people in our care can be maintained during the transitional period.
"We are working closely with family members, our commissioners and our regulator – the Care Quality Commission – to ensure a smooth, stress-free transfer to a new service for all of our residents."