Care home to close
Published 11 Jul 2011 12:00
8 Comments
TROUBLED care home operator Southern Cross has today said it will close down after a host of landlords turned their backs on the company.
The firm which is responsible for Merino Court, in Greenock, and Newark Care Home, in Port Glasgow, have a combined capacity of more than 100 residents and more than 60 staff at both.
In a statement this morning the company said it would make sure that its 31,000 residents throughout the UK would continue to be cared for and the interests of staff of its 752 care homes maintained as the group was wound down.
The statement also said the company's shareholders would receive little or nothing.
The two Inverclyde homes are among 98 in Scotland, which employ around 5,000 people.
Merino Court in Drumfrochar Road is a residential care home and provides nursing support and specialist care for those with dementia.
Newark Care Home, which also offers nursing care and respite care, has been operating in Port Glasgow for eight years.
The two Inverclyde homes.
The company ran into trouble after it posted huge losses of £300 million.
This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 11 Jul 11
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INVERCLYDE22
30 posts
Jul 11, 17:09
Report commentThis is dreadful, however it is what happens when services of this kind are put into private hands. When the ones to please are the shareholders then profits have to be made. I feel so sorry for those residents who will be affected, as I am sure that some will not be able to understand quite what is happening.
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Yes 4
No 0
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myfindhorn
278 posts
Jul 11, 18:43
Report commentLets hope the goverment does not pay out to the shareholders as they usually do. When a person buys shares it is a game of chance and if you lose, guess what it means you lose.
Recommend? Yes 3
No 0
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brenda
17 posts
Jul 11, 19:21
Report commentwell all i can say is where are the residents going to go?,after the lib-dems took over a few years ago and halted the building of the new eldery home which was to sit at the old Hector McNeil Baths site and the closure of Hillend House and Kempock House leaves them very little option but moved onto another private run home if theres any spaces??
Recommend? Yes 4
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Tiddles
1077 posts
Jul 11, 20:42
Report commentWe have that red haired old witch Thatcher to blame for this. Her, 'care in the community' programme caused all this. Of course, she sits in her own home during her dotage being cared for hand and foot by the best professionals her money can buy. I have always regarded the grannie farm business as beneath contempt for all it does is profit out of other people's misery. I hope the shareholders lose more than their shirts.
Recommend? Yes 7
No 3
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Jimboweb
5 posts
Jul 12, 10:11
Report commentThe Hector McNeil site cannot be used for anything but the public good, this land was left to the people of Greenock and not to the council of Greenock, had they built there a court could have ruled on demolition of the building.
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myfindhorn
278 posts
Jul 12, 10:59
Report commentThe Hector McNeil site , does indeed belong to the people but then so did the waterfront and they did what they wanted with that ( case still in court as council are trustees).
As for care homes, it is said that it costs over £1400 per person to keep and look after in a home, so tell me why dont the goverment not pay a family member a living wage to look after their own. say £350 saving the tax payer £1050 , no ,the goverment would rather pay £53 a week carers allowance and rely on emotional blackmail.
Everyone knows that it takes 2 people to earn a living wage to keep body and soul together and it is not that a person does not want to look after their own, they just can,t afford it and a person cannot hold down a full time job, run a house, see to kids and look after a person with special needs without ending up ill themselves.
The goverment needs to pay families to look after the elderly,involving them in everyday activities and so forth. Care homes should be a last resort, unfortunately this is not so .
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Tiddles
1077 posts
Jul 12, 11:32
Report comment@findmyhorn
I couldn't agree with you more. Excellent points!
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gran61
63 posts
Jul 16, 21:49
Report commentSometimes people have no choice but to put there loved one into a care home, if you live in a b/f door with a toilet upstairs it would be difficult to look after someone who,s say had a massive stroke. They need trained people to care for them.
Recommend? Yes 0
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