Recently bought care home to close after failing to attract enough residents

Fairhome Care is to close its recently acquired Bankfield Care Home in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire after failing to attract enough residents.

The home, which was registered to provide care for up to 37 people, was rated requires improvement following its last inspection by the CQC in January. Only 11 people were using the service at the time of inspection.

A Fairhome Care spokesman said: “We have taken the extremely difficult decision to close Bankfield as a care home for the elderly. Our priority now is the wellbeing of the residents and we are working with them and their relatives to find suitable alternative accommodation.

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“We fully understand the decision creates a number of challenges for people at a difficult time in life and we intend to give as much support as possible. This involves working with the local authority and relatives to find alternative accommodation, which we have already been able to do for several residents. We have told residents and their families that the home will not be closed until everyone has moved to accommodation appropriate for their needs.

“The closure also affects the home’s staff and we intend to minimise the number of redundancies and have offered staff jobs in our other homes.

“We recently bought Bankfield and it is clear it has been struggling to attract residents due to its current condition, difficult location and accessibility issues. At this stage we are reviewing our options for the future of the building.”

Fairhome announced last month that it was investing £25m in Northern Ireland as part of its plans to bring a new funding model to the province.