How to tackle Highland care home crisis?
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After a leading Highland care home boss spoke out about problems in the sector, readers were driven to respond.
Earlier this month Ron Taylor, managing director of Parklands Care Homes – which owns three homes in Ross-shire – spoke about his belief that, without immediate and urgent support, more closures of homes in the Highlands are inevitable.
Urging Scottish Government social care minister and Ross MSP Maree Todd to help ease the crisis facing the sector, he said: “Over the last 30 years, I’ve never ever experienced the state of the industry as it is now.
“The...accelerated number of closures is frightening, particularly in the Highlands with numerous homes closing, and I think it’s undoubtedly going to get worse.
“We know that there is a huge amount of bed blocking within Raigmore and Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, so surely the social care sector should be part of the solution, not the problem.”
He said the sector needed financial assistance from the Scottish Government as it was clear councils had no more to give.
Calling recent cost increases “crippling” he added: “We look after people who are blessed with old age.
“These people have given their lives to the community and now I feel we’re letting them down.”
Parklands runs homes in Fortrose, Muir of Ord and Tain and cited tough economic conditions in the January closure of the Mo Dhachaidh home in Ullapool.
Mr Taylor’s comments encouraged various readers to add their voices to the ongoing social care debate, many sharing their own stories of struggle seen or experienced first hand.
Jill Beavitt said: “Having worked in Lochbroom House (the NHS Highland-run care home situated in Ullapool) as a temporary manager in the ‘80s, I am well aware of how upsetting it was when an individual who needs nursing care is removed to a nursing home far from their own community.
“In those days, Lochbroom House was unable to provide nursing care, so I would place people in Strathgarve Lodge or in Tain, or even further afield sometimes. It was a huge relief when Mo Dhachaidh opened its doors.
“From my own point of view, living on Scoraig but having close ties with friends in Ullapool, I always had the ‘safety net’ of Mo Dhachaidh in the back of my mind. It would be somewhere I might be visited, a place where the carers might know me.
“My husband, who is on the list for a hip replacement, will need to spend time recovering away from home – Mo Dhaichaidh could have provided facilities in that situation.
“I don’t know much about finances and profit margins, but it seems that anyone hoping to make a big profit from owning a care home has failed in that endeavour.
“It would seem sensible to fund the care sector which is so much cheaper than hospital care, thus alleviating the dreaded bed–blocking.”
Topher Dawson, the chairman of Lochbroom Community Council, said: “As a society we expect care for old people, sick people, handicapped people and young people. But we do not pay our carers and nurses anything near enough, so the job is unattractive and has low social status.
“The low pay and status is partly a hangover from the sexist attitude that it is unskilled womens’ work, often unpaid care for relatives.
“In a nutshell, we expect high Scandinavian levels of welfare with low taxes, which is unrealistic and will lead to disappointment.
“I think we should get away from these ideas, and give carers the pay and recognition they deserve. This would need higher tax levels such as occur in Scandinavian countries. The middle classes of those countries are content to pay up to 50 per cent taxes in return for free child care, health care and old age care. The system is not just for poor people, it works for everyone.”
Katy Campbell agreed that there needs to be “major overhaul” of a system she said was having major impacts on both the physical and mental welfare of service users and their families.
“It is also separating families, which can cause rapid declines in people and prevent them from maintaining close relationships with family members,” she added.
“There is too much red tape with regards to decision making, and way too many delays, which is having severe impacts on people.
“The final years of someone’s life should be spent being looked after, surrounded by family and friends, not being placed miles away from home feeling isolated and vulnerable.”
Amanda Mackenzie said: “I understand that change takes time, but it appears that profit is still being prioritised over the human cost. It should be everybody’s right to say where they want to live, in my father’s case it is Ullapool.
“Every person should have their voice heard, but that does not seem to be important. At the moment my father is just one of the many people who are being failed by the system.
“One of the main hindrances to good social care is the inability to retain staff. Good staff, experienced staff, are leaving in droves because they are not being paid a living wage. They should be classified as frontline workers in the same way that NHS staff are. They are after all taking care of some of the most vulnerable people in our society.”
She also took issue with previous practice by Parklands.
“Mr Taylor of Parklands Care Homes has stated that these are challenging times,” she said. “He is of course right, but this is rather galling coming from a company that acquired Mo Dhachaidh in September 2022 only to put it on the market six months later.
“They presumably thought it was viable prospect at the time, and would have carried out due diligence.
“The company ensured that their residents were transferred to new homes, although where they went did not seem to be of importance.”
What do you think? Email newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk
