Popular Goodmayes care home may lose funding leaving vulnerable residents fearing for their futures

Meadow Court Care Home. Picture: Ken Mears (Image: Archant)

Meadow Court Care Home, Barley Lane, Goodmayes has specially trained staff who are used to dealing with challenging behaviour but its future is up in the air after Redbridge CCG announced it is holding a consultation about whether to continue financing it.

Residents said the home is a “lifeline” and the centre holds regular activities in beautiful grounds.

“The news feels like I have been bereaved, I am so depressed,” said Susan Winch-Furness, whose husband has lived in Meadow Court for six years.

“Other places said they couldn’t accept him because his behaviour is challenging, but here the staff are so well trained and understand – he calmed down and was like a different person.”

Before he was offered Meadow Court, Susan was at her wits’ end and contemplated ending both her and her husband’s life as she couldn’t find a home that could cope with his needs.

Redbridge CCG’s contract with the CareUK home means that it has to pay a set rate for the service even if some of the beds are empty.

Dr Raj Kumar, GP and mental health clinical lead for Redbridge CCG, said he understands that families may be feeling upset but no decision has been made yet.

“People can choose which nursing home they want to live in and the number of people moving to Meadow Court has been steadily reducing for a number of years,” he said.

“This means there is a large number of empty beds. Because of this we reviewed our contract and during this time we felt it was sensible to reduce our active promotion of the home.

“The CCG did not stop referring patients to the home to save money.”

A Care UK spokeswoman said: “We do not have any influence over the referral of people into these NHS-funded places.

“We are concerned about the viability of the home if the CCG does choose to end the contract after consultation.”