Battle goes on over future of Place Court
Thursday, 6th October 2011.
Town councillors are to continue their campaign for a public meeting in Haverhill about the future of Place Court care home, despite their recent petition failing to change county council policy.
Suffolk County Council has been reviewing the future of its 16 care homes, including Place Court, and recently decided to go down the road of offloading them.
In Place Court's case the most likely alternative management would be the private sector and town councillors are extremely concerned this would lead to a fall in the standard of care.
They launched a petition to keep it in the county council's hands, but despite a huge response, the county council ignored the plea.
Town clerk Gordon Mussett said he attended the county council meeting and was given five minutes to speak on behalf of the petition, which had achieved over 4,000 signatures.
Initially it had been thought 1,700 signatures were needed for the county council to have to respond to it, but this changed to 3,700, and the figure was still achieved.
But the only response Mr Mussett received from the council's policy holder was that at such time as a decision to transfer the home to a third party was made, residents would be informed.
Mr Mussett said his fear was that several homes in west Suffolk might be passed over to a single private operator who would find it more economic to draw all the care into one place.
Haverhill was physically separated from the rest of Suffolk, he said, and at evenings and weekends there was no public transport available to other parts of the county.
He felt the county council should still be pressurised to have a public meeting in the town when the time came.
"Four thousand out of a population of 23,000 is quite a significant number," he said.
Town mayor Cllr Maureen Byrne said she did not consider the fight was lost. "The people of Haverhill have made it clear they have major concerns about the standards of care if Place Court is privatised," she said.
"We want it kept under Suffolk County Council because the care standards are exceptional."
Cllr Pat Hanlon was also concerned about the care of dementia sufferers, with the withdrawal of county council plans to build a new state-of-the-art care home on the asite of Chalkstone Middle School.
Cllr Brian Hawes said he did not believe that plan was completely off the agenda, and suggested the council find out if other areas in Suffolk were fighting a similar battle so they could join forces.
Councillors re-iterated how, throughout their campaign, they had not heard a single complaint or criticism of the care given by staff at Place Court.
Cllr Byrne said: "In the private sector there are some excellent care homes and there are some awful ones. We don't want Haverhill to be one of the awful ones."
Members agreed to continue pressurising the county council to hold a public meeting in the town.
Suffolk County Council has been reviewing the future of its 16 care homes, including Place Court, and recently decided to go down the road of offloading them.
In Place Court's case the most likely alternative management would be the private sector and town councillors are extremely concerned this would lead to a fall in the standard of care.
They launched a petition to keep it in the county council's hands, but despite a huge response, the county council ignored the plea.
Town clerk Gordon Mussett said he attended the county council meeting and was given five minutes to speak on behalf of the petition, which had achieved over 4,000 signatures.
Initially it had been thought 1,700 signatures were needed for the county council to have to respond to it, but this changed to 3,700, and the figure was still achieved.
But the only response Mr Mussett received from the council's policy holder was that at such time as a decision to transfer the home to a third party was made, residents would be informed.
Mr Mussett said his fear was that several homes in west Suffolk might be passed over to a single private operator who would find it more economic to draw all the care into one place.
Haverhill was physically separated from the rest of Suffolk, he said, and at evenings and weekends there was no public transport available to other parts of the county.
He felt the county council should still be pressurised to have a public meeting in the town when the time came.
"Four thousand out of a population of 23,000 is quite a significant number," he said.
Town mayor Cllr Maureen Byrne said she did not consider the fight was lost. "The people of Haverhill have made it clear they have major concerns about the standards of care if Place Court is privatised," she said.
"We want it kept under Suffolk County Council because the care standards are exceptional."
Cllr Pat Hanlon was also concerned about the care of dementia sufferers, with the withdrawal of county council plans to build a new state-of-the-art care home on the asite of Chalkstone Middle School.
Cllr Brian Hawes said he did not believe that plan was completely off the agenda, and suggested the council find out if other areas in Suffolk were fighting a similar battle so they could join forces.
Councillors re-iterated how, throughout their campaign, they had not heard a single complaint or criticism of the care given by staff at Place Court.
Cllr Byrne said: "In the private sector there are some excellent care homes and there are some awful ones. We don't want Haverhill to be one of the awful ones."
Members agreed to continue pressurising the county council to hold a public meeting in the town.
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