Miss-Delectable
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The Herald
A care firm last night came under fire for giving some of Scotland's most vulnerable pensioners just six weeks to find new homes.
Allan Water Ltd yesterday announced it would shut the only care home for elderly people who are both deaf and blind.
Residents at Bearsden Care Home, formerly Craigholme, have until January 19 to move out.
East Dunbartonshire Council, which Allan Water partly blamed for the closure, hit back at the firm.
A spokeswoman for the local authority said: "Residents' families have been given just six weeks' notice, over Christmas, to arrange alternative accommodation and our social services are now working to help them achieve that.
"Good practice would suggest a 90-day notice period to be appropriate in this very sensitive case and we are in discussion with the Care Commission to try to achieve this extension from the owner.
"Our focus is on the residents and their families, some of whom heard of the closure through your article yesterday."
Ian Stirling, of Allan Water, last night said that six weeks would be more than enough time to find alternative accommodation for the home's 19 residents.
His company, which took the home over from charity Deaf Connections last summer, had been losing £20,000 a month. The home had been running well below capacity after it failed to attract referrals, including from the local council.
However, the final straw, Mr Stirling said, came when East Dunbartonshire failed to back a "survival plan".
The council spokeswoman said: "This care home is run privately…Our position is clear. Councils cannot subsidise a private independent commercial operator and, in short, that is what we were being asked to do."
A care firm last night came under fire for giving some of Scotland's most vulnerable pensioners just six weeks to find new homes.
Allan Water Ltd yesterday announced it would shut the only care home for elderly people who are both deaf and blind.
Residents at Bearsden Care Home, formerly Craigholme, have until January 19 to move out.
East Dunbartonshire Council, which Allan Water partly blamed for the closure, hit back at the firm.
A spokeswoman for the local authority said: "Residents' families have been given just six weeks' notice, over Christmas, to arrange alternative accommodation and our social services are now working to help them achieve that.
"Good practice would suggest a 90-day notice period to be appropriate in this very sensitive case and we are in discussion with the Care Commission to try to achieve this extension from the owner.
"Our focus is on the residents and their families, some of whom heard of the closure through your article yesterday."
Ian Stirling, of Allan Water, last night said that six weeks would be more than enough time to find alternative accommodation for the home's 19 residents.
His company, which took the home over from charity Deaf Connections last summer, had been losing £20,000 a month. The home had been running well below capacity after it failed to attract referrals, including from the local council.
However, the final straw, Mr Stirling said, came when East Dunbartonshire failed to back a "survival plan".
The council spokeswoman said: "This care home is run privately…Our position is clear. Councils cannot subsidise a private independent commercial operator and, in short, that is what we were being asked to do."
