Black Country care home delayed from fully opening by four months due to recruitment issues
A care home in Sandwell has been delayed from fully opening to dementia patients by four months due to recruitment issues, a written question revealed.
Harvest View, based in Rowley Regis, opened in November 2022, but is expected to open completely by April this year. It was described by Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust as Sandwell’s “new flagship social care and health facility”.
The care home – said to replicate a home environment – offers specialist support from both social care and health staff with 80 en-suite rooms, communal areas, and what has been described as “lovely outdoor spaces”.
The facility is designed to help people get back home after a hospital visit or for those who need some structured support to avoid a hospital stay altogether. “The focus is on maintaining and improving independent living rather than specifically treating the medical condition,” the website states.
According to council documents, Sandwell council’s director of finance, Simone Hines, was delegated by senior councillor to allocate £292,500 from the council’s housing revenue account to purchase the site.
Sanderson Weatherall, charted surveyors appointed on behalf of Sandwell council and NHS Property Services, confirmed the sum of £292,500 represented “market value for the acquisition of the site”.
Labour councillor Elizabeth Giles said: “Can I congratulate the cabinet member for the excellent facility of Harvest View that has been provided for the residents of Sandwell. It is a credit to Sandwell and the wider West Midlands.
“I know my residents in Charlemont & Grove Vale will be happy knowing that this is where they can go for extra support after hospital or even before to prevent hospitalisation. What I want to ask is that I have been made aware that the top floor of the facility is not open yet – can I ask why that is?”
In response in a pre-written speech, Suzanne Hartwell, the cabinet member for health and social care, said recruitment issues had delayed the opening of the building in its entirety.
She said: “Harvest View is the the first unit of its kind in the West Midlands, if not in the country. This is a purpose built integrated social care and health facility
The building opened on the November 24th of last year. Since hopefully we have floor one and two open which gives us 46 beds. The ambition plan was to open the whole of the building in November 22.
“The original workforce design was to have the top floor staffed with a mixture of nursing and social care staff – the same as we have on the first floor. Due to the fact that we were unable to recruit to the full complement of nurses, we have to pause and make the decision to recruit additional social care staff so we had a full complement for the third floor.
“The changes to the recruitment priorities and process has delayed the opening of the third floor. In hindsight, the delay in opening the third floor has given the opportunity to embed the service across the two floors and learn what the referral to the service looks like.
“Current referrals would indicate that the demand for residential and dementia is greater than nursing. So the decision to change the for floor three is justified and in line with demand.
“Recruitment to the staff is going well. And the ambition is that we will be in a position to open the additional beds and be fully open by the end of April.”
