Elderly residents are at risk of being forced to leave a Valleys care home after a council revealed plans to redevelop the building into a facility for people with learning disabilities. Families of the residents fear being separated from their loved ones while one family claims the move could be too much for their elderly grandmother.
It comes as Rhondda Cynon Taf Council is currently consulting upon major proposals to invest in residential care services including three new facilities offering extra care and dementia care, a fourth new accommodation for adults with learning disabilities at Garth Olwg Care Home, and the retention of five council care homes. The consultation for Garth Olwg Care Home closed on Friday, January 27, and the cabinet will consider the feedback before deciding on these proposals.
Residents and families at Garth Olwg are devastated by the proposal to close the care home. The family of resident Joyce Crocker, who is turning 94 in March, said she had only been at Garth Olwg Care Home for five months after moving from a Pontypridd care home last September. You can read more about the Pontypridd Care Centre closure here. Relative Christina Caddy told WalesOnline that her grandmother-in-law Joyce has suffered from ill health since the "stressful move" from the Pontypridd care home.
Read next: Calls for RCT care home to be saved from closure under council plans
With Pontypridd Care Centre closing down to a winding-up petition Christina claimed RCT Council were willing to pay top-up fees to care homes of the residents' choice but alleged the plan was revoked from the family three days before Joyce was meant to move into a private home. The family did not have the funds to pay the extra fees and therefore had to move Joyce to Garth Olwg when a bed became available.
“She’s so ill and sometimes she has good days but we’ve been back and forth from the hospital and doctors out every week as she won’t eat – she’s going downhill. When she moved from Pontypridd care home she was so stressed – we were given one day’s notice by staff that she was moving out,” said Christina. She claims they were treated “disgustingly” during Joyce’s move as were given black bags to move her belongings.
A council spokesman said: "We are sorry for the confusion to Mrs Caddy and her family around the issue of the council’s payment of top-up costs and any inadvertent distress this caused. We had discussed the reasons for this with Mrs Caddy and if she wishes to contact us directly to discuss this matter further we would welcome the opportunity."
Christina said she felt residents should not have been accepted from the Pontypridd care home to go to Garth Olwg if the council "knew a decision like this was going to happen". There are also concerns that Joyce will be moved to the Rhondda. Christina said: "If there's an emergency I won't be able to get there quickly as I don't drive but here I can run up the road and be there in 10 minutes.
“It’s annoying me because she’s 94 in March and I don’t think it’s fair that they’ve upset her and there’s no way in a million years that they did not know this was going to happen. From September to November there’s no way that this wasn’t in the pipeline – things like this don't happen in a week or two.” Christina added that she worries another move would be too much for Joyce due to her deteriorating health and age. She added: “She will not survive this. If she has to move again that will be the end.”
Huw Williams, son of Garth Olwg Care Home resident Bernice Williams, also shared concerns about where his mother will be housed if moved from the care home. Under the proposal residents could be moved across the county borough, including to supported living and specialist provision facilities. Huw said he felt moving Garth Olwg residents "is the worst thing [the council] could do to them". He said the families of residents were worried about the uncertainty of where they will be sent if the closure goes ahead.
He said that Garth Olwg Care Home was "amazing" at looking after its residents during Covid and the staff helped his mother adapt to life at the home. Huw said: "My mother has been a resident there since 2016. When she was admitted she had a mental breakdown in addition to having giant cell arteritis, which meant she lost her sight in one eye. It's due to Garth Olwg that she's on top form now." He added that his mother enjoys the company of many residents at the care home, speaking of shared childhood memories and politics. He claimed the council promised to allow residents who were friends to stay together if they are to be moved.
A spokesman for RCT council said: "The council has been consulting upon major proposals to invest in residential care services including three new facilities offering extra care and dementia care, a fourth new accommodation for adults with learning disabilities at Garth Olwg Care Home, and the retention of five council care homes. The consultation ended on January 27, 2023.
"The redevelopment of Garth Olwg would provide new accommodation and care for people with learning disabilities in adulthood in Church Village. Under these proposals the care home would be decommissioned when suitable placements are found for its residents in a home of their choice which meets their assessed needs.
"Modernising and improving its adult care provision is a key council priority in response to an ageing population, lower demand for ‘traditional’ care homes, and changing expectations of the service users in the future. The status quo is not an option if we are to proactively respond to needs of future older generations.
"There has also been a significant increase in surplus beds at our care homes – with 109 vacancies in comparison to just eight in 2016. This is a national trend exacerbated by the pandemic and only expected to continue. There is now a far greater demand for nursing and specialist placements as well as domiciliary care for people who wish to live in their own homes.
"As part of the proposals there would be two extra care schemes, two council care homes, plus independent sector care homes within a five-mile radius of the current Garth Olwg Care Home. The vouncil runs nine residential care homes offering 267 beds making it one of the largest local authority providers in Wales."
READ NEXT:
- Teachers, train drivers, university lecturers and civil servants to join mass day of discontent strike this week
- 'I had 10 miscarriages and lost my son - everything I have done is for him'
- 'Living my true gender led me to lose four stone and finally find my happiness'
- Residents 'disgusted' by plans to collect black bins every three weeks as people point out big concern
- Second homes and long term empty properties to face higher council tax bills in Rhondda Cynon Taf area
