Doctor speaks out against plans to close specialist dementia care home in Goodmayes
Meadow Court Care Home. Picture: Ken Mears - Credit: Archant
A doctor has spoken out against plans to close a care home in Goodmayes, arguing it is the only dementia specialist facility in the borough.
Meadow Court Care Home, in Barley Lane, has specially trained staff who are used to dealing with challenging behaviour.
But its future is up in the air, after Redbridge Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) held a consultation as to whether to continue financing it.
The CCG says it spends £2.4million on empty beds.
Redbridge charity One Place East compiled a report in response to the consultation and spoke to Meadow Court service users and professionals about the home.
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More than 83 per cent of participants strongly agreed that Meadow Court should be funded, and a Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust (BHRUT) doctor said there is no other home like it in the borough.
“Some people with dementia need to be cared for by people with extra skills and knowledge about dementia,” the doctor, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
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“Meadow Court staff have that extra expertise. There were two care homes in Redbridge with these skills, but the other home has already been closed.
“To get a care home with these extra skills costs more, they tend to have more qualified nurses and a higher staff ratio. It is not true that the surrounding nursing homes are the same.”
The report also raises concerns about how the consultation was carried out, and the lack of a cost analysis that the impact shutting the home will have on other services.
The doctor said: “Staff have told me that people have been shown around, saying it was perfect.
“However, I have also been told that when they contacted Redbridge CCG they were informed that they are not placing anyone at Meadow Court.”
A spokeswoman from Redbridge CCG said: “The CCG has received a response to our proposal on our contract at Meadow Court from One Place East and is carefully reviewing it, as well as the other responses we’ve received, alongside other information as part of our decision making process.”
