Care home closes due to pay spat

Mar 12 2010 By Jessica Thompson

Feltham Dene care home

A FIGHT between the council and a Feltham care facility will mean nearly 40 residents are unable to return home and 34 staff could lose their jobs.

Carers at Feltham Dene, in Spring Road, have been given their notice after Hounslow Borough Council stopped paying a company to manage the building, which was closed in October because the deadly bacteria legionella was found in the water.

Management company Shaw Healthcare expected to move residents back into the home once the problem was eradicated, but the bacteria remain.

The council has not paid any money since November and now Shaw Healthcare says it has been left with no alternative but to close the home for good – which has come as a huge shock to staff, residents and their families.

Jill Sargent, from Ashford, is furious with the council for keeping her and her 83-year-old mother Eileen in the dark. She said: “They said that everybody had to be evacuated. This was only supposed to be temporary at the time.”

Eileen Sargent, like all the other residents, has been transferred to another home.

The pensioner, who has dementia, is now at Nightingale House in Twickenham. A shortage of accommodation means she is sharing a room with another resident with just a curtain between the pair for privacy.

Her daughter added: “They could all stay where they are but the bottom line is that it’s nobody’s choice. I chose to have my mum at Feltham Dene. I do not see how they (Hounslow Borough Council) could get away with behaving like this.

“If there is a contract in place, there is a contract in place. My mum is confused. Feltham Dene was just right and now they have taken that away from us.”

Shaw Healthcare spokesman Paddy Hehir said: “Hounslow Council stopped paying Shaw for operating Feltham Dene in November 2009. Shaw has sought to persuade Hounslow to meet its contractual commitments and to pay the outstanding sums, but it has recently confirmed it will not be doing so. Shaw is left with no alternative but to close the home, despite every attempt having been made by Shaw to avoid this situation.”

The company said it is unsure what will happen to the building in the long term.

A spokesman for Hounslow Council said: “When unsafe levels of the life-threatening legionella bacteria were discovered, we had no alternative but to close the home and move vulnerable residents out. Months of intensive work to purge the water system have so far proved unsuccessful as the bacteria remain at unsafe levels.

“As Shaw has taken this decision to pull out of the site, we will of course need to look at how care can be provided in the future at the home. Any decision will be made by councillors and will include advice from an independent expert we have commissioned to recommend how we can get the building back into use.