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Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber Council Offices Market Street Newbury

Contact: Democratic Services Team 

Items
No. Item

46.

Declarations of Interest

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any personal, disclosable pecuniary or other registrable interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

47.

Walnut Close Care Home (Urgent Item) pdf icon PDF 573 KB

Purpose:  This report proposes a significant change to the delivery of West Berkshire Council’s in house care home services as a result of the impact of Covid-19. The proposed change is an immediate measure to respond to the effect of the pandemic.

Decision:

Resolved that:

1.          Walnut Close Care Home be closed. Residents would be rehomed in other West Berkshire Care Homes (anticipated to be predominantly in Birchwood for reasons of capacity and proximity) with staff redeployed in those other care homes, resource centres or the reablement team.

2.          Following closure, the Walnut Close site will be placed into the management of the Council’s Asset Management Group for decisions regarding the disposal of the land and building.

This decision is not subject to call in as:

·     the item is deemed as an Urgent Key Decision as set out in Rule 5.4.7 of the Constitution.

therefore it will be implemented immediately.

Minutes:

The Executive considered a report (Agenda Item 3) concerning a significant change to the delivery of West Berkshire Council’s in house care home services as a result of the impact of Covid-19. The proposed change was an immediate measure to respond to the effect of the pandemic. A far more substantial piece of work was being undertaken to set out a medium to long-term plan for the Council’s wider care home provision. This work had commenced but the impact of Covid had necessitated more urgent action.

Councillor Graham Bridgman introduced the report and thanked Sara Ross for all her hard work, care and engagement in getting to this point. Closing a care home was not something that the Council did lightly and a huge amount of work had gone into ensuring that all things that should be considered had been considered and not least the welfare of the residents. Sufficient spaces were available in Birchwood to accommodate all of the residents from Walnut Close in a much more modern setting with enhanced facilities such as en-suite bathrooms. Birchwood was located under two miles from Walnut Close and therefore there should not be any issues in terms of families being able to visit (subject to current restrictions).

Sara Ross and her staff knew all the residents and their families at Walnut Close well and would therefore have a good idea of what would suit them at Birchwood. Each of them would be allocated the right type of room for their needs and care plans would be reviewed in conjunction with families and professionals. All of the staff from Walnut Close would move into similar roles at Birchwood apart from three members of staff who would be moving to other sites. The move would not be rushed and it would take as long as it needed to in order to relocate all of the residents. It was hoped that the move would be finalised by the end of February 2021. 

Councillor Bridgman referred to the consultation responses set out in the report and stated that Sara Ross had personally engaged with the majority of residents and their families to make them aware of what the alternative provision would look like. All discussions had been very positive and all the residents that had been spoken to had been happy about the move to Birchwood where they would have their own bathrooms. Sara and her team had done everything possible to remove the risks associated with a move of this nature and gave assurance that risk assessments would be undertaken which would include concerns around the wider Covid issue.

Councillor Bridgman concluded that the residents from Walnut Close could be accommodated in far better surroundings, in a modern care home which was only two miles away from their existing one. It was noted that the vote on this matter would be taken as part of the Part II discussions.

The report was seconded by Councillor Steve Ardagh-Walter.

Councillors Lynne Doherty and Hilary Cole  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.