A home for people with mental health needs in Hove is to close.
All the residents have been found places in other homes, a council scrutiny meeting was told this afternoon.
The disclosure came during an update to councillors on the financial turmoil affecting care home company Southern Cross.
Denise D’Souza, director of adult social services at Brighton and Hove City Council, said that Swallows Lodge in Pembroke Avenue, was to close.
No reason was given to the meeting of the council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
But it is believed that the owner would need to spend a significant sum to enable the home to meet its regulatory requirements.
It was rated “good” when it was last inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The owner is expected to focus resources on its other property.
Councillors were told that the two Southern Cross homes in Hove – Bon Accord and The Downs – appeared to be financially viable.
While uncertainties remained, the council was fairly confident that they were unlikely to close.
Councillors noted that people were not currently being placed in Bon Accord, in New Church Road, Hove, by the council.
They were told that this related to concerns about quality, mainly around medication.
The matter was raised in a past CQC report.
Councillors asked what contingency plans were in place and were told that the council had considerable experience of handling home closures and good relations with a number of alternative providers.
Some care homes cannot be upgraded physically to comply with legislative changes which may in part explain this closure.
The Park House site in Old Shoreham Road by Hove Park – complete with modern extensions – was a Council (Hove) care home for the elderly, mentally frail from 1949 until the 1980’s or 90’s when it was sold on to Bellerby’s for use as a foreign student school and dormitory.
There is a need for elderly accommodation in more central areas, whether fully residential or partly independent and it is regrettable that Hyde Housing will not be offering it when they shortly submit their new planning application (for the usual block of flats to warehouse too many people in an overdevelopment).
The Green Council should have stepped in and acted to secure this site. They have let the residents down.