A Sandiacre care home will permanently close after being deemed as 'not fit for purpose'. Ladycross House in Travers Road is one of seven care homes to be shut by Derbyshire County Council.
It comes almost two years after the home was saved after a U-turn by the council. At the time campaigners described it as "the heart" of the community.
However, at a meeting on Thursday, May 5, councillors were told that even if all the needed repairs across all the homes, costing around £31m, are carried out, the homes are still no longer fit for purpose. The council also said residents do not have the space to use essential equipment and cannot be adapted to provide high-quality care to older people with increasingly complex needs.
Read more: Care home in Sandiacre saved from closure after community campaigns
It added that it heard Covid had accelerated a reduction in demand for care home places both locally and nationally with more people preferring to remain independent at home with support from the council. Derbyshire County Council also decided to shut homes in Tibshelf, Brimington and Bakewell.
Councillor Natalie Hoy, Cabinet Member for Adult Care, said it had been an "incredibly difficult" decision. “We understand how upsetting this has been for everyone involved but our priority has always been for the safety and wellbeing of our residents, their families and our staff," she said.
“We listened to people’s views but carrying out the work - including an invasive rewire at each home - with people still living in them simply wasn’t viable. Even if we carried out all the work these homes still wouldn’t offer the space or modern facilities to provide high-quality care for our residents or give them the privacy and respect we’d want for ourselves and members of our family.
“We need to make sure people with more complex needs can be cared for with the dignity they deserve so that means level-access showers, bedrooms which are big enough to use equipment, disabled toilets, access to outside space and dementia-friendly in design. Some of our residents don’t have their own en suites and have to walk down a corridor to use a bathroom and many of the bedrooms are too small and furniture has to be removed before equipment like hoists can be used.
“The people of Derbyshire deserve better and we will continue to work to deliver high-quality facilities for our residents.”
