Derbyshire County Council launches consultations on future of care homes

At a meeting of the council’s Cabinet on June 16, councillors agreed to launch the consultations into the five proposed closures and people are being encouraged to have their say on the proposals, which would see 18 county council-run residential care homes staying open across the county.

The council has been planning to change the way it delivers accommodation, care and support to older people since 2012 when a strategy was unveiled to close up to 20 of its residential care homes and replace them with extra care apartments.

Following agreement at the meeting, consultations into the five proposed closures will now be launched.

The homes proposed for possible closure are: The Willows, at Ripley; The Glebe, at Alfreton; Red House, at Chesterfield; Hillcrest, at Ilkeston; Ecclesfold Resource Centre, at Chapel-en-le-Frith.

The proposed closures form part of a wider county council plan which aims to ensure it can afford to continue providing high quality specialist residential care and also meet the pressures of a growing older population.

The consultations into the five proposed closures will run until September 16 with meetings at the homes, options of meetings with consultation officers and people can write, email or phone with views. Find out more on the council’s website. A decision on all five proposed closures is likely in November. If it is decided to close a particular home, this would normally take six months from the decision.