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The consultation about the future of Suffolk 16 residential care homes, including Place Court in Haverhill, has shown more than 50 per cent of people favoured selling them as going concerns.

The results of the Suffolk County Council-led 'conversation' on the future of the care homes have been released today.

The consultation exercise, which ran from November 1 to January 24, asked residents what they thought about options to transfer to the independent sector ownership of the council's care homes for older people.

It came about central government funding reductions meant £125m had to be saved from the council’s budget in the next four years and that funding to make necessary improvements to council-run care homes wass no longer available.

Residents, relatives, councillors and MPs, the NHS, district and borough councils, representative organisations for older people and family carers and care home staff were all involved in the conversation.

There were also meetings at all 16 homes led by the council’s portfolio holder for adults and community services.

The three options put forward during the process were:
1 Close the homes and buy alternative services from the independent sector;
2 Sell the homes as ‘going concerns’ in which existing residents are not required to move from their homes;
3 Close some homes and transfer the remaining homes to the independent sector.

More than 1,000 responses were received by the county council. The key things the council learned from the conversation were that:
· 53 per cent of people favoured selling homes as going concerns;
· 31 per cent said they did not agree with any of the options;
· ten per cent said they supported closing some homes and transferring the remaining homes to the independent sector;
· six per cent thought all the homes should be closed.

The council was also told that its residents:
· value the care and support given in council-run homes;
· have concerns about change, particularly any impact on those people living in our homes;
· say the council must retain its responsibilities and commitment to older people;
· have concerns about the independent sector’s capacity to deliver the numbers of places required and about some of the quality;
· are concerned about local and specialist services such as intermediate care, respite care and services for younger people with dementia;
· think care homes are important even though there are many developments to help people stay at home for as long as possible;
· want more information to help them decide;
· have mixed views about why the council must make these changes
· mostly agree that the council should make the best use of money available.

Cllr Colin Noble, portfolio holder for adult and community services, said: “I’d like to thank sincerely the people who took to the time to come forward and give us their opinions on the future of Suffolk’s care homes.

"Getting the views of residents and service users has been an essential part of this difficult process.

"There is still a long way to go until any final decisions are made – but I hope that by working with the community, we will be able to do the right thing for Suffolk as a whole.”

The results of the conversation will be presented to Suffolk County Council’s cabinet on Tuesday, March 29.