Southampton City Council vote to close care home Holcroft House

Holcroft House will close after Southampton City Council's cabinet-approved plans on Tuesday afternoon.

The closure of the 34-bed home comes after a fire safety assessment in 2021 that identified a number of issues with the property.

In a cabinet meeting chaired by council leader Satvir Kaur, friends and family of Holcroft House residents made a bid to urge councillors to keep it open.

Making a deputation, Amanda Guest called for a 'rethink'. She said: "This is the same route that the administration took when closing down Kentish Road.

"You bring out a consultation, you sit on it for a number of years, you dumb down the service in the meantime in order to validate your consultation, in the meantime, residents are then farmed out to other residential homes or respite services - it's exactly the same, like-for-like tactics that you used when closing down Kentish Road.

"Your assessments are very flawed and that really concerns me."

It comes after the fire service found a need for significant remedial work to make it safe.

Green councillor Katherine Barbour raised concerns about the wider provision for people with dementia.

She was worried about moving 'very vulnerable' people and urged the council to continue to provide spaces for those with dementia and not to 'solely' rely on the private sector.

She said: "We know that we've got 2,500 people living with dementia in Southampton and that number is predicted to grow to 3,200 in the next ten years, so we've got a large number of people who are going to be needing our services going forward."

She said specialist dementia service in the city provided by Southern Health is going to be moved to Basingstoke or Gosport 'which will have an impact on those who need admission' and a navigation service is being subsumed into a 'generic' service.

Speaking at the meeting, deputy leader Cllr Lorna Fielker said: “The decision we have between us is if it’s in the best interests to move residents from Holcroft House.

“Proposed building work on the site (addressing fire safety concerns – including fire-stopping works to the roof space) would take at least 78 weeks.

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Cllr Lorna Fielker

“I believe this will not be of benefit to residents with many sections of the building closed and the prospect of dust consuming much of the surrounding area, I would argue this won’t be a familiar environment for residents.”

She added: “I do appreciate there is low trust, as this has a big impact on a small number of people, and I feel sorry we’re in this position today.”

In response to the meeting, Tory opposition deputy leader - Cllr Jeremy Moulton - told the Echo: “Labour is ignoring the views of the families of Holcroft residents as well as unions and staff at the home.

Cllr Jeremy Moulton

"Labour have used their big majority on the city council to push through the closure, despite a 1,600-name petition being submitted and a debate at full council scheduled the next day.

“The lack of interest in the views of families was evident when Labour said in last week's council scrutiny meeting that whatever residents fed back in the consultation, it wouldn't affect the decision of Labour councillors.

"Families quite understandably think this is all about saving money for the city council, which is on the edge of bankruptcy as result of Labour mismanagement.

"Labour has already shut one dementia care home (Glen Lee), in their words, for purely financial reasons. They promised they wouldn't do it again and they have now broken that promise."

Holcroft House was the only council-owned facility in the city after Glen Lee in Bitterne closed in 2019.

A decision will be made on the future of the building at another meeting.