All elderly residents of a crisis-hit care home in Dumfriesshire have found alternative accommodation – and staff are being helped to find new jobs.
This comes after Singleton Park Care Home near Parkgate finally closed its doors for good five weeks ago.
Thirty-three pensioners had been living at Singleton Park last year before a sheriff suspended the registration of the private residential facility due to serious care concerns.
Dumfries and Galloway Council took over the running of the care home from October 1 as a temporary measure to look after the welfare of the elderly residents until a permanent solution was found.
Rebecca Aldridge, the council’s adult care lead manager, produced a report for next week’s social work committee, which provides councillors with an update.
She wrote: “Following the agreement from this committee on December 2, 2021 to support the proposed move to closure, a range of actions have been taken to implement this.
“All care home residents were moved to an alternative placement, the last moves taking place before Christmas 2021.
“Staff were transferred to the local authority under TUPE arrangements and work has been ongoing to consider redeployment options within the council and employment opportunities within the NHS.
“Notice was given on the building on January 10, 2022 and during this period the final decommissioning of services was undertaken, and the building closed on February 10, 2022.”
A sheriff ordered the interim suspension of Singleton Park Care Home’s registration after the Care Inspectorate lodged an application with Dumfries Sheriff Court.
The care home watchdog was unhappy that Singleton Park management had failed to make required improvements following an inspection in July.
Inspectors had issued an improvement notice demanding “safe and effective management, leadership and oversight of the care home”, as well as “improved working practices and care of people in the home.”
Further inspection found that the care home provider had failed to meet any of the improvements – and further serious concerns were also highlighted.
