Sandwell care homes to face axe

Four care homes with more than 70 frail and elderly residents are set to close in Sandwell.

Up to 220 members of staff and 76 pensioners would be affected by the closures.

Homes set for the axe are Grafton Lodge in Oldbury, Greenhaven Resource Centre in West Bromwich, John Dando Residential Centre in Great Barr and Glebefields Resource Centre in Tipton.

Sandwell Council says it wants to move residents out of the homes and into sheltered accommodation run by housing associations.

If all four sites close, there will be just one council-run home left in the borough - down from nine in 2007.

Council bosses have already discussed the plans behind closed doors but workers and residents are yet to be told.

Tony Whiteoak, from Newton Road in Great Barr, said his 85-year-old mother Ruth had been in Greenhaven Resource Centre since June.

Mr Whiteoak said: "This is a nightmare situation for me, as my mother has only just got in settled and is happy there."

Sandwell Council claims the four homes are too expensive to run and facilities are outdated. Council leader Darren Cooper today said: "I want to stress that this is not about saving money.

"Because of the lower numbers of people wanting residential care in the borough these homes are becoming unviable.

"It will be about giving elderly people the facilities they want that will give them independence, rather than having to share many of the basic facilities that they have to do at present."

The council said the care homes would be replaced by four "extra care" facilities, which offer pensioners their own flat at a sheltered complex. The first centre is already open in Bearwood Road, Smethwick and a second is almost complete in Brandhall, Oldbury.

Planning permission has been granted for a third in West Bromwich and a fourth is planned for Wednesbury.

By Sally Walmsley