Ullapool petition over future of Lochbroom House care home as an NHS-run facility gathers momentum
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
MEMBERS of the public are throwing their weight behind a petition aimed at stopping an NHS-run care home in Ross-shire being taken into private ownership.
Parklands Care Homes recently took over privately run Mo Dhachaidh in Ullapool from Barchester Healthcare with plans for immediate investment and a pledge to ensure long-term viability of care provision in the area.
The company – which also runs homes in Muir of Ord, Fortrose and Tain and across the wider Highlands – has approached NHS Highland, which runs Lochbroom House in the village, over the possibility of combining the two facilities.
That has sparked a petition from the GMB Highlands and Islands branch and staff at Lochbroom House appealing for it to remain under NHS management to ensure consistency of care for patients and working conditions for staff.
RELATED: Parklands acquires Mo Dhachaidh Care Home in Ullapool and pledges investment
NHS Highland confirmed it has received a formal request from Parkland "to discuss the need to ensure sustainability of care home services in Ullapool".
It said: "The written request refers to Parklands’ purchase of Mo Dhachaidh care home; the potential vulnerability of care services in Ullapool; and Parklands’ desire to combine the running of Mo Dhachaidh with Lochbroom Care Home, in order to stabilise care home services in the area. Given the need to ensure sufficient care home provision across Highland and Scotland, NHS Highland would give due consideration to any approach that is made with regards to sustaining care home capacity in Ullapool and the surrounding area. We wish to clarify no decisions have been made at this time."
Local MSP Maree Todd, originally from Ullapool, said says she is aware the strength of feeling in the community and has met constituents "who have raised legitimate concerns with me particularly around continuity of care and staff pay and conditions which are typically poorer in the private sector leading to higher staff turnover". She has written to NHS Highland to raise these concerns and get a full update on the situation.
One of those involved in starting the petition said: "Our concern as NHS workers is that historically private care providers always have trouble attracting staff to work in care homes in the west Highlands. We only have to look at our neighbours at Home Farm in Skye, who could not get staff needed to provide a sustainable service. This meant the facility was under–used and had a significant reliance on agency staff at enhanced costs. When the pandemic hit, the local staff and residents were restricted in what they could do because of management decisions made out with the area, which resulted in a legal order to sell the home to NHS Highland."
The petition has attracted heartfelt support for what one called "an outstanding facility" and another who stated "health care should not be run for profit".
A spokesperson for Parklands said: "As a family run, Highland-based organisation, Parklands has a strong track record of investing in small, rural communities such as Ullapool and in creating careers opportunities for local people.
"We have earmarked a substantial investment package for Mo Dhachaidh which will greatly enhance facilities for residents and improve on-site accommodation for staff, and we are continuing to recruit locally with great success. There are no now agency workers at Mo Dhachaidh. The future of Lochbroom House is a matter entirely for NHS Highland. Our primary concern is to ensure the long term sustainability of care services in the area."
The petition has received over 500 online signatures with paper copies available at a number of business premises in Ullapool.
