A landmark Glasgow care home has gone into administration.
Balmanno House in the west end will close and its residents moved to new homes after struggling with rising costs of nursing staff, energy and food.
The facility can trace its roots as a care home back more than 200 years, and is one of the longest, continuously operating in the UK.
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Accountants appointed to wind down the charity run home and will sell off the building to repay outstanding debts.
They insist the process will be managed to minimise the impact on residents, families, staff and suppliers.
Meanwhile Healthcare Management Solutions Ltd has been brought into run the home and work with administrators to oversee the closure, in line with Care Inspectorate guidelines.
Balmanno chairman Allan Carrick said: “Sadly the unsustainable costs and challenges affecting the care sector in Scotland have made it impossible for Balmanno House to continue providing the high standard of residential care, which has for so long been our hallmark.
"Balmanno House is very much a family and community facility, and we are acutely aware that it will be sorely missed.
"Our priority now is to ensure that we minimise any disruption during the transition phase, a process that will take several weeks to complete. Finally on behalf of the trustees I would like to thank everyone involved with Balmanno House over the years, in particular our residents, families and staff, for their support."
A statement issued this morning explains that occupancy rates at 51 room Balmanno were consistently below 85 per cent as operating costs soared.
So far there have been no redundancies among the 68 full and part-time staff.
Blair Milne and James Fennessey, partners with Azets, have been appointed joint administrators and say the Victorian villa at the junction of Great Western Road and Cleveden Road will be marketed by agents Savills.
Mr Milne explained: “The challenges facing care home operators are well documented, the most significant of which is recruitment and retention of nursing staff. In order to maintain the safety of residents, care providers have become increasingly reliant upon agency workers which is very difficult to sustain commercially, even for short periods.
"The increased cost of providing nursing staff, added to the sharp rise in the costs of energy and food, has resulted in trading losses for Balmanno.
"Despite the best efforts of the directors to control operating costs and to increase revenue it has sadly not been possible to return the business to profitability.
"Our priority will be to stabilise the business and ensure that Balmanno House can operate as normally as possible."
He added: "We will work closely with the Care Inspectorate, Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership and local authorities to achieve an orderly closure of Balmanno whilst fully supporting residents and their families through every step in finding a suitable new care home.
"Our legal obligation as administrators is to realise best value for the charity which owns Balmanno House. Any surplus funds generated after all debts are met will be distributed to other charitable causes in due course.”
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