Social Care Minister to meet McClymont care home campaigners
Maree Todd is to sit down with the families impacted by the closure of the Lanarkshire care home
Campaigners fighting to stop the closure McClymont Care Home in Lanark are meeting Social Care Minister Maree Todd this week.
The meeting was secured after campaigners hoping to reverse the closure having wrote to the Health Minister, Neil Gray, demanding to discuss the future of McClymont and another home in Hamilton destined for closure.
South Lanarkshire's Integrated Joint Board (IJB) - responsible for the region's health and social care - decided to close it in a bid to bridge budget gaps.
The IJB agreed to send a letter to the Scottish Government calling for additional resources that would be used to keep the care homes open after a lengthy debate.
READ MORE: 'Bitterly disappointed': Two South Lanarkshire care homes to close
The IJB letter to the Government, acknowledging it wants to keep the homes open and asking the Government for additional resources so they can keep them open, "offers a glimmer of hope" to the campaigners that the homes could yet be saved.
The call for the government to financially intervene comes after a long and determined campaign by the families of residents, trades unions and the wider community.
The families of residents are very concerned about the impact of the closure on their loved ones, there are other concerns with unions worried about the impact on staff and the wider community who are worried about losing further quality care home provision in South Lanarkshire.
'We find ourselves standing on the brink of exhaustion'
Emma Koubayssi, the granddaughter of one of the residents, said: “We’re making an urgent plea to Maree Todd and Neil Gray for resolution and support.
"With McClymont House gone, the absence of a council-run care home in rural Clydesdale will devastate our community's wellbeing.
"We implore for swift action to safeguard the future of our vulnerable loved ones and preserve the fabric of our community.
“We've fought tooth and nail to protect the sanctity of our loved ones' homes and we now find ourselves standing on the brink of exhaustion.
"The lack of reassurance from South Lanarkshire Council regarding the future of the two remaining council-run care homes, in Rutherglen and East Kilbride and where they are signalling our families will go, plunges us into a state of grave concern.
"If they are moved, they could be evicted yet again and we all know that private care home provision is unreliable and precarious.”
'Particular tragedy'
Stephen Smellie, Unison Official said: "The decision to close the two care homes will mean South Lanarkshire will have closed five council-run care homes in five years leaving only three remaining.
"During Covid, one of the closed care homes had to be re-opened to help cope with the crisis. That would not be possible should another crisis occur.
"The decision to close McClymont is a particular tragedy. It is rated as one of the best in Scotland and is the only council care home in all of Clydesdale with the nearest alternative being at the other end of South Lanarkshire."
Maree Todd will sit down with campaigners on Friday 26 April 2024.