Residents’ petition plea against plans to axe three care homes

With just over a fortnight to go before councillors meet to set Hull Council’s budget, relatives have been targeting council leader Carl Minns’ ward over the weekend to force a rethink.

It is understood plans to close Nicholson House, Alderson Resource Centre and Salingar House may be watered down, and not all will close – but relatives are adamant the three council-run establishments should all stay open because of the excellent care they give their loved ones.

Among the residents who would be forced to move from Nicholson House are two men in their 80s who were promised they would never move again after they were transferred from council-run Rokeby House, which eventually closed a year ago following a lengthy legal battle.

Around 3,000 leaflets were distributed by the relatives in the Kingswood and Sutton Park areas of the city.

Pamela Leak has three members of her family in Nicholson House – her mother Florence Simpson, 87, and mother-in-law Annie Leak and father-in-law Lawrence Leak, who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last June.

Mrs leak said: “They are all at varying stages of dementia. My father-in-law went in first, then my mother-in-law, she just deteriorated and she’s been in probably a year. Mum has been in six months. She is so much better, she’s getting stimulated all the time which is fantastic. They have musicians coming in, sing-songs, they go out on regular trips even if it is just to the shops.

“The reason we put them there is that they get such fantastic care.

“I’ve got them all settled – to go through this all again would be an absolute nightmare.”

Christine Gardiner, whose mother Mary Deery, 77, has been in Nicholson House for nearly two years, said she could not fault the care her mother had been given.

She said: “My mum spent five days in hospital and they sent a carer from Nicholson eight hours a day for five days to make sure she had her meals.

“At Nicholson House they don’t just care for her, they care about her.”

Husband Paul Gardiner, who will be addressing councillors later this month, added: “We’ve experienced the private sector before and don’t want to take our chances.

“We know she is 100 per cent looked after where she is now. It is imperative that the council retain some direct responsibility for care in the city and not be so willing to farm it out to third parties. For me, Nicholson House is the benchmark standard and the private sector need to aspire to that.”

In the past four years two council-run homes have closed. Catherine Ellis residential care home in Ashton Close, In Ellerburn Avenue in the city, was severely damaged when floodwaters swept in on June 25, 2007, and never reopened. However the Liberal Democrat administration had a much tougher battle over closing flood-hit Rokeby House and faced a series of legal challenges from solicitors acting for residents.

It was finally demolished last year – but the promise of extra care housing being built on the site has not materialised.

The council now faces £50m cuts and says £1.5m could be saved by shutting its remaining three care homes.

Danny Brown, who is standing as a Labour candidate in the May elections for Coun Minns’ Kingswood seat, and is Hull PCT’s Older People’s Champion, said: “This would have never happened under Labour. Under Labour social care was always absolutely protected.

“Carl Minns said when they closed Rokeby that it would be replaced by extra-care. Pickering and Ferens (housing association) are putting 10 two-bedroom bungalows there, but it is not an extra care scheme, nor is it another residential establishment.”

Nicholson House looks after 27 clients and has three respite beds.