Call for care admission 'freeze' to be ended

Calls to lift a freeze on new admissions at five Lancashire care homes have been made by opposition councillors.

The Liberal Democrats, Labour and Independents have said keeping rooms empty was lost revenue and pre-empted a decision on their future.

The five homes are part of a review being carried out by Lancashire County Council into them and five days centres it runs as it looks to save money.

The Reform-UK led authority said: "The council has temporarily paused new long term admissions during the consultation to avoid placing individuals in a situation where they might need to move shortly after admission."

Liberal Democrat County Councillor David Whipp who is also the leader of Pendle Council said: "It's ridiculous for the Reform administration on the one hand to say, well, we might keep these care homes open, and on the other hand to say, well, we're not taking new residents because we may be closing them."

"It's tragic that Reform are treating the most vulnerable people in our society in this despicable way, and if we could fill the homes, then they would be much more financially sustainable than the current situation where they are being literally run into the ground."

The Independent leader of the opposition at County Hall, Azhar Ali agreed: "At the moment we've got around 18 rooms empty, that's roughly £18,000 a week being lost.

"We're already in a situation where adult social care is overspent, the council leadership is talking about making cuts and at the same time we're not filling bedrooms.

"That is actually premeditated and they're trying to run the care homes down and say there's so many vacancies they're not viable."

Reform UK county councillor Graham Dalton, cabinet member for Adult Social Care, said: "This is a precautionary measure to protect residents wellbeing and ensure fairness while options are being considered, short term or respite placements continue where appropriate."

A consultation into the future of these facilities has now ended, with some opposition councillors describing the outcome as a "done deal".

Leader of the Labour group at County Hall, Mark Clifford said: "It's got to have been the most ham-fisted consultation there has ever been, because we've been dealing with misinformation all the way through."

"To have a consultation that says that basically the condition of the buildings is terrible when that information is so out of date, we've learnt that money has been spent in the last few years but we don't know where and we've requested the new building condition statements and we've still not been given them."

Reform UK county councillor Graham Dalton said: "No decisions have been made about the future of any site, and the consultation, is genuine."

Members of the Cabinet will meet in February to discuss the outcome of the consultation and make a decision on whether to close the facilities.

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