Council defends care homes axe

Staffordshire County Council has today said it has complete confidence in its decision to close care homes after Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant called for the plans to be investigated.

Describing Mr Fabricant's comments as a "political outburst" the county council said its changes would lead to improvements in the care of elderly and disabled people. Yesterday Mr Fabricant, a Conservative, referred Staffordshire County Council to the Local Government Ombudsmen to investigate what he claims is maladministration.

Mr Fabricant said that the county council knew of funding difficulties but had "buried its head in the sand while other councils had taken action."

Councillor Susan Woodward, cabinet member for healthier communities and older people said: "Standing still and keeping things as they are is, quite simply, not an option. We have to take steps now if we are to have any chance of meeting the demands of our growing population.

"We are confident and satisfied that the structure and rationale behind our plans and the manner in which we conducted the consultation, will stand up to the scrutiny of any panel or review."

Responding to Michael Fabricant's comments, Councillor Woodward said she had offered to sit down with him to discuss the future of Staffordshire's care homes saying: "I'm extremely disappointed to hear this from Michael since I've offered to discuss this with him on numerous occasions, but he has resisted the opportunity to engage in real debate.

"He must surely understand his own party's policies on care for older people and to say our residents will be 'out on their ear' is something of an insult to our staff."

She added: "We are anxious to focus on putting people first, rather than having to respond to those who are more interested in playing unnecessary games of political football."