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£1 CARE HOME SET TO CLOSE
Listed mansion sold in 2001 will now go on the market for £2.5m
A HOME set up to care for some of Westminster’s most vulnerable elderly residents is set to close.
Shaw Healthcare, which runs Drake Court in Blackheath, has announced the 31-room block will shut in March because of rising costs.
The listed Victorian mansion, which was bequeathed to the council by a mystery benefactor, was sold for £1 in 2001 during a wave of privatisation of public services.
A clause in the contract, stipulating Drake Court could not be closed as long as Westminster patients were living there, was supposed to guarantee its survival well into the 21st century.
Justifying the sale in 2001, Councillor Louise Hyams said: “We are prepared to support this transfer because we believe the interests of the service users have been adequately safeguarded.”
But the death of the home’s last Westminster resident in August, has paved the way for closure and the two-floor listed building is to go on the market for £2.5 million.
Lynne Wallis said her 85-year-old mother Madge had been given just three months to find a home.
She said: “She had a breakdown a year after my father died and it’s been Drake Court which has really got her back to normal. Where can she go now?”
In a statement, Shaw’s London regional manager Martin Prince said: “Shaw would have preferred to redevelop a new modern standard and larger-scale home on the site but planning constraints prohibit this.
“Shaw’s team of staff at Drake Court and at regional level are working closely with relatives, residents and social service officers to find suitable alternative home placements in the area for the home’s residents.”
Marian Harrington, Westminster’s director of adult social services, said: “Not a single Westminster resident now lives in Drake Court.
“However social care for adults in Westminster is the best in the country, and this has been verified by independent inspectors.
“We provide an excellent array of services for our elderly residents within Westminster itself.”
Westminster’s record for caring for the elderly has been called into question following the closure of Marylebone old people’s home Macintosh House in March and attempts to close another in Bayswater in the summer.
Opposition leader councillor Paul Dimoldenberg said: “Another great deal by Westminster Conservatives. Once again, Westminster residents have
been short-changed by the Conservatives and the elderly lose out again.” |
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