Greenock woman with severe memory disorder and cancer set to lose her home

Gran Edna Munn, 59, has lived in the Sir Gabriel Wood's Mariners' Home for the last 20 years but will be forced to move elsewhere when it shuts its doors.

Her daughter Stephanie is devastated by the shock news and fears that her mum's health will go downhill as a result.

It comes after a torrid year for the family, who have been kept apart by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Stephanie said: "My mum suffers from short term memory loss and will never be able to live on her own.

"She has been in the Mariners for the last 21 years and is so happy there.

"It is her home and I can't believe it is going to be taken away from her.

"My mum has had the same keyworker for all that time and they know her better than we do.

"Staff have told the trustees that the person they are worried about most is my mum.

"I really fear how she will cope with all this and I am worried about where she will go - they might not be able to give her the expert care she had."

Mariners' Home operators the Sailors' Society announced last week that they were closing the Newark Street home following a severely critical Care Inspectorate report.

They said that in the light of Covid-19 they were unable to meet the standards of care their residents needed.

Stephanie, 32, said: "I have never had a problem with my mum's care.

"I work in care myself and my mum's room has always been cleaned to the highest standard.

"The staff are brilliant and many of them have worked there for a long time.

"They have been excellent throughout this whole year, especially with my mum going through treatment for breast cancer."

Edna suffers from Korsakoff Syndrome, an alcohol-induced illness which leaves sufferers with chronic memory loss as a result of a vitamin deficiency.

Stephanie added: "I didn't even get to see my mum for three months but the Mariners' locked down well before the rest of the country and there was no Covid in there.

"They were brilliant during Covid-19, keeping us in touch then when they could we had visiting in the summer house.

"It has been hard not being able to be there for mum with her cancer diagnosis."

Mum of two Stephanie, from Dempster Street, said Edna was diagnosed with cancer in June 2019 and has been undergoing immunotherapy treatment ever since.

She is hoping the authorities will step in to save the Mariners.

She said: "Surely if they can find money to give to the Beacon, they can find money to save a care home?"

Sara Baade, chief executive of the Sailors’ Society, who run the home, said: "We have known for some time that this might be necessary for financial reasons, and because decreasing numbers of mariners in the home mean it is no longer in line with our charitable purposes.

"We have kept it open as long as possible because we wanted to avoid disruption to the residents.

“However, no-one could have foreseen coronavirus and the huge strain it has placed on staff and resources.

"The inspection has made it clear just how difficult it is to maintain standards under this additional pressure.

"Although we passed the final inspection, the amount of financial investment required to maintain the standards of care mean that, sadly, the home is no longer financially viable.

“We recognise how difficult this is for residents and families, and we are very sorry.

"We will work with the local health and social care partnership to ensure that every resident has the best alternative accommodation and care provision available and in the meantime we will continue to look after everyone in our care to the standards laid out by the inspection.”

An Inverclyde Health & Social Care Partnership spokesperson said: “There is ample capacity to accommodate all residents who wish to remain in Inverclyde and relocate to another local care home.

“We’re currently carrying out a full review of the needs of all residents in partnership with the Mariners’ Home and other councils/HSCPs to ensure them and their families are fully supported and involved in all decisions around future placement choice during the transition.

“We recognise the importance of Sir Gabriel Wood’s Mariners’ Home locally and have supported it over the years.

“However, the owners have deemed that it is no longer viable for them to continue providing care services at the home, particularly due to a sharp decline in the number of mariner beneficiaries.

“With that in mind and the fact there is care home capacity elsewhere in the community to accommodate the relatively small number of residents currently living there, we do not believe providing financial assistance to the home would be an appropriate use of public money.”

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Pic shows Edna and daughter Stephanie with her children Caleb, seven, and Devon, 22 months.