Ullapool family's mental health struggle in wake of devastating care home closure
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A family has shared the devastating impact the closure of a care home previously at the heart of its community has had on them and a vulnerable grandmother.
The decision by Parklands Care Homes to close Mo Dhachaidh in Ullapool caused widespread shock when it was announced in late January.
At that point with 14 residents, Parklands had only taken over running of the home from Barchester Healthcare last August – one of just two nursing homes serving the entire north-west Highlands, from Kyle of Lochalsh to Durness.
The move has left locals with serious concerns about the future of rural social care and a petition started by Ullapool residents calling for restoration of the home has gathered over 800 signatures.
Locals have also been protesting with a rap video, where they call for their right to “die with dignity” to be restored.
Ullapool resident Katy Campbell is now shining a personal light on the impact, telling how the move has affected her, her husband’s and her elderly mother-in-law’s mental health as well as having a serious impact on the family’s finances.
Mrs Campbell said her mother-in-law Phillipa (89), who formerly worked for Barnardos, was given a place in a care home in Thurso last November, on what was supposed to be a temporary basis.
The longer term plan – due to take place, Mrs Campbell said, within four weeks of her moving to Thurso – was for Phillipa to return to Ullapool and take up a place at Mo Dhachaidh, in the community she knows best.
That has now been blown out of the water leaving Mrs Campbell and husband Ian with no choice but to journey to and from Caithness – with three young children – as often as they can afford to do so.
The trip can take up to four hours each way for what is a half hour visit at most – a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s making longer visits too much for Phillipa.
Mrs Campbell said: She loves Ullapool, she’s lived here for many years, and she really wants to be in Ullapool, but now she feels abandoned up in Thurso.
“It’s had an impact on me and my husband’s mental health because we can’t see her, and so her mental health declines too – when we visit she’s crying, begging us to take her home.
“The care sector needs a complete overhaul, you can’t get carers for in-home care, which means families are being split up, which is so detrimental to your mental health. Some people are being sent as far as Edinburgh.”
She added: “We manage to visit about once every six to eight weeks.
“It’s had a huge financial impact on us as we have to stay for a few days when we go and visit because of the distance. It costs a few hundred for accommodation alone.
“I have to take the children out of school, and as Ian is a self employed handy person, when he doesn’t work we don’t get paid.
“Even if we go up without the children just for the day we have to pay for babysitters.”
Ron Taylor, managing director of Parklands Care Homes, said at the time of the closure announcement: “We acquired Mo Dhachaidh with the intention of retaining it and investing in it for the long-term. However, in recent months we have faced a wave of rising costs and it has become manifestly clear that the costs of operating and upgrading Mo Dhachaidh to the required industry standard are simply not sustainable over the long term.”
He called it a “stark reminder” of the difficulties of providing care in remote areas.
Local group Mo Dhachaidh Future is involved in talks about saving the home, with a favoured option being to encourage Highland Council to buy the buildings and commission NHS Highland to run it.
