West Lothian Council has thrown a £1.2m lifeline in a bid to secure the immediate future of its four care homes.
In a surprise motion councillors were presented with a proposal to establish a reserve fund to protect the more than 100 residents in the council care homes and maintain the jobs of 171 council staff.
The Executive agreed the action which should save council run care homes from closing.
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The move comes after fractious weeks and a sustained union campaign against job loss and the further privatisation of care of the elderly.
The motion raised by Council leader, Labour’s Lawrence Fitzpatrick, promised “a new earmarked reserved specifically for the three long term placement care homes, on the basis that the WLIJB confirms it has no plans to close these care homes during their current strategic planning period (up to the end of 2027/28), safeguarding care of residents.
It added: “It is recognised that this would give surety and comfort to the 110 residents and their families as regards Limecroft, Whitdale and Burngrange and also the 171-council staff employed by them.”
Both the SNP and the Lib Dem's Sally Pattle expressed surprise at the motion and welcomed it. Councillor Robert de Bold said the SNP group would support it if two paragraphs which criticised the Scottish Government were removed. They were not and so it went to a vote.
Councillor de Bold confirmed later that the party had welcomed the additional investment adding that the amendment he raised was only to counteract the paragraphs critical to the SNP Scottish government
Councillor Pattle demanded that comments contained in the motion regarding the future of St Michael’s Hospital and requests that the IJB and NHS take cognisance of local opinion were not just lip service and urged fellow councillors to recognise the importance of the hospital as a service for the community of Linlithgow.
The West Lothian Integration Joint Board (IJB) is responsible for commissioning adult health and social care services and overseeing the delivery of these services in West Lothian.
The IJB is facing a significant budget gap of £17.3 million caused by rising demand for services combined with insufficient levels of funding. In March the IJB agreed to review the options available that would achieve these financial savings. Part of the IJB’s review is to consider whether a larger percentage of service users could be placed into the growing number of independent care homes in West Lothian.
Council Executive’s promise to allocate the IJB with an additional one-off investment of £1.216 million would be provided to the IJB on the basis that it is used by the IJB to keep all of the council’s long term placement care homes open until at least March 2028 (which is the IJB’s service planning period), thus safeguarding the long-term care to existing care home residents.
The council has also agreed to work closely with the IJB on reviewing the operation of council care homes to ensure best value and help secure the future sustainability of council care home provision.
Limecroft, Whitdale and Burngrange are West Lothian’s only council run homes offering long term care for 110 residents. Craigmair is used as an interim care facility for short term care while clients await their care home of choice.
Leader of West Lothian Council Lawrence Fitzpatrick said: “The IJB has not made a decision on the future of council run care homes and they have previously said that if alternative ways to find savings are found, none may close at all.
“Despite the incredibly difficult financial position that we face, it is the council’s intention that our offer of further financial support would help to guarantee that none of the three care homes offering long term care will have to close, providing much needed stability for residents and their families. We would certainly hope that our offer of funding is accepted and the IJB take the necessary steps to prevent the closure of these homes.”
He added: “There is obviously a high degree of concern with this important issue and, given this review could affect some of the most vulnerable people in society, this funding will be used to provide this offer of support to the IJB on the basis that they confirm that they have no plans to close these care homes.”
Last month, West Lothian Council’s Chief Executive wrote to the First Minister requesting an urgent meeting to include the Chair of the IJB and Trade Union representatives to discuss concerns and spending priorities.
Councillor Fitzpatrick added: "The exorbitant sums of consultancy fees for National Care Service proposal and the anticipated set up costs could be better spent fully meeting the current demands for care provisions in our local communities and on improving a set of national standards to cover both public and providers of care. We are calling on the Scottish Government to abandon its Bill for National Care Service and provide sufficient levels of funding on an ongoing basis for the West Lothian IJB.
"It is also the case that the problems have been greatly exacerbated by the Scottish Government clawback of Covid 19 funding estimated to be over £10.6 million which were desperately needed for this essential public service for the West Lothian community, and we are calling for these funds to be returned to West Lothian."
