Closure looms for Kidderminster care home
A care home faces closure, possibly leaving jobs at risk, in a shake-up of services in Kidderminster.
Plans to close The Grange Nursing Home in Kidderminster were revealed at a board meeting of Worcester Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which is considering combining services dealing with the care of patients into a single unit.
A document outlines Worcestershire County Council's intentions to close The Grange by next spring, transferring care to a service run instead from people's homes. The home in Sutton Park Road has capacity for 35 residents and provides day and respite care, physiotherapy and independent living training.
Councillor Marcus Hart, cabinet member at Worcestershire County Council, said: "We are working with our health partners to agree the role that The Grange, Kidderminster, also Howbury House, Malvern, will take.
"It is important to note that some of the current funding for The Grange comes from the Better Care Fund. The use of the fund in the future will be decided in agreement with all three Clinical Commissioning Groups in the county."
The council has said it is too early to say if jobs will be affected. Intermediate care is currently provided in Wyre Forest through three separate units – the Wyre Forest GP Unit and Cookley Ward, both located in different parts of Kidderminster Hospital,and The Grange.
There are six proposals being considered as alternatives for local care that include the creation of a single integrated unit within Kidderminster Hospital or near the town that can fulfil the role of all three units.
Dr Simon Rumley, Chief Clinical Officer of Wyre Forest Clinical Commissioning Group and a GP, said: "The current units all provide some degree of intermediate care, which sometimes means there can be confusion regarding which unit sees what type of patient."
