Elderly residents as old as 104 are being forced to leave a Valleys care home that is facing a winding up petition. Families fear being separated from their loved ones and staff say they are devastated and face losing their jobs from October 6.
The vulnerable residents will be found new accommodation as a number of councils have terminated their contracts with RB Care Homes, which operates Pontypridd Care Centre, and is facing a winding up petition from His Majesty's Revenue and Customs.
Staff claimed to WalesOnline they had not been receiving any wages from RB Care Homes, whose registered address is in Chislehurst, south west London, and that Rhondda Cynon Taf council had stepped in to pay their wages for the last two months. Staff member Dewi Atkins, 33, said: "It’s devastating for us and for the residents. We've feared for our jobs and pay for months on end and we've got to a point now when we're numb to it, what can we do?"
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Nadine Haines said her gran Dorcas Price, 104, had been at Pontypridd Care Centre for four-and-a-half years. "It's really horrific for us as a family," said said. "It’s just horrifying that she’s essentially homeless and they have to find her somewhere else to live. I wouldn’t like to take her on a journey anywhere, let alone moving her in. She’s going to be so disoriented."
Nadine fears her gran, who she drives to see twice a week to take flowers or chocolates, could be moved much further away from her Cardiff home. She added: "With the winter coming, we would prefer for her to be somewhere close to us. We’re now just waiting and hoping she is going to be local."
Care home director Raqia Bibi, who is listed as a director of the company as well as Mohanananthan Kuhananthan, said she could not comment on the winding up petition but said the home had been hit by rising costs while the fees paid by local authorities had not kept up.
She said: "Current inflation rate is 10.10% the highest in 40 years. Care home operations costs have increased by a catastrophic 500-600%. Yet fee income from the councils has not even been proportionate."
She said they had received no emergency funding help from Rhondda Cynon Taf council but that staff had been fully supported by their area manager. "We are totally devastated with the situation," she said.
Ms Bibi added that they were "sincerely remorseful", adding: "It is truly an uncertain and economically strained time worldwide. We have worked hard within the Providership and put in as much efforts as we were able. We have worked throughout Covid without being off call since March 2020. We have worked tirelessly along with social services when the pandemic hit and we have continually adapted and tried to put new practices in place."
A spokesman for RCT council said it had paid staff wages for two months to keep residents safe and support staff but been forced, along with Merthyr council and Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, to terminate the contract as the home owners had been unable to "provide reassurance regarding their ongoing financial situation".
He said council staff were aiming to find alternative care facilities for residents by October 6. He said: “This is a difficult time for the residents and their families, and the Council is working hard to ensure they have clear information, advice and assistance. The staff at the care home are working with the council to ensure the residents and their families are well supported."
Referring to emergency funding for care homes, he added: “The Welsh Government fund mentioned was for Covid-19 related expenses and closed in March 2022. This is therefore not relevant in this context."
A joint letter from Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, Merthyr Council and Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board said their key priority was to provide residents with assistance to secure "ongoing care and support at an alternative care facility".
Gwenllian Hughes, 60, owner of separate company Celtic Care, said she wanted to buy Pontypridd Care Centre. She said closing homes was devastating for residents, describing staff at the centre as excellent and dedicated.
She said: "I have watched the process of another Welsh care home being closed. I was manager at the receiving end of three of the home’s residents. It was heart-breaking. Clients, staff, managers and even ambulance personnel who were transporting people to their new homes, were in tears and all trying to remain calm for the sake of the clients." RCT council said if the ownership of the home changed, it would engage with the new owner in line with its policies.
Staff member Dewi alleged that care at the home had been suffering since the pandemic, with food budgets cut and suppliers changed. “The food budget has been cut and they’re given the bare minimum - the cheapest of the cheap," he said. Dewi said he and the staff felt awful serving this type of food to the residents and wished they could give them more nutritious meals.
Ms Bibi, of the RB Care Homes, disputed Dewi's claims and responded that suppliers had changed as the catering packs provided were too large and too much was wasted. She said there was petty cash to buy supplies, and that the manager uses their own discretion to create nutritional menus, with the quality of meals and nutritional value externally audited.
Ms Bibi also referred to a Care Inspectorate Wales inspection report from September 2022 that said of the centre: "People’s individual dietary needs are considered, and healthy, nutritional meals ensure people remain healthy. A range of choice is offered, and kitchen staff can respond to individual requests for meals."
Janette Stoddart, 66, senior carer at Pontypridd Care Centre, claimed that money for activities had also been cut. She said: "On the weekends, we do try to entertain them. One or two of them like a drink and I do a little buffet for them that I have bought out of my own money."
Ms Bibi said that the home had two full time activity co-ordinators to deliver entertainment and activities and a monthly budget for the replenishment of supplies. She added that during Covid no visiting entertainers could be at the home.
Janette has worked at Pontypridd Care Centre for the last 17 years and thinks of the staff and residents as her second family. She added: “It’s a sad day and it’s the residents we feel for.... We've got many residents with learning difficulties and dementia - how are they going to cope with all this change? They are used to our faces and us, we're a part of their lives and that has been taken from them."
Janette also expressed her concerns about the cost of living crisis and how she will cope come October. She said: "I'm not ready to retire and the state pension won't cover my bills with the cost of living crisis - but what am I supposed to do?"
Care Forum Wales chief executive Mary Wimbury said: “As the First Minister has said the care sector in Wales was in a fragile state going into the pandemic and they have been placed under enormous pressure first by Covid and now by the cost of living crisis.
“Unlike shops or leisure centres care homes don’t have the option of closing for a couple of days a week in the face of up to a 600 per cent increase in heating bills and rising food costs while staff are feeling those pressures as well and looking for better remuneration. Unfortunately payments for care by local authorities and health boards are just not keeping pace and the care sector doesn’t have the option of increasing its prices with, sadly, inevitable results.”
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