The Northern Health and Social Care Trust has released a statement saying that ‘residential care provision’ at The Roddens in Ballymoney is to be ‘phased out’.
This comes just the day before a protest march through Ballymoney has been organised to voice opposition to the proposed closure of the facility.
The Trust statement reads:
“It is important that we plan for the future in meeting the needs of older people, in terms of their aspirations and the support services that will be required.
All of our proposals were approved for consultation by the Health and Social Care Board and our consultation runs until 2 October 2015.
“At this stage nothing is agreed but the proposals relate to the Trust continuing to provide residential care at Lisgarel in Larne, Clonmore in Newtownabbey, Joymount in Carrickfergus and Rosedale in Antrim and to resume permanent admissions to these homes once the consultation process has concluded.
”However, due to the availability of suitable alternative accommodation, we are proposing to phase out residential care provision at The Roddens in Ballymoney, Westlands in Cookstown and Pinewood in Ballymena. At Westlands, there is potential to develop the site as a community health and social care hub and at Pinewood in Ballymena it is proposed to develop this unit as a rehabilitation facility to cover the Ballymena and Antrim areas. At this point, there are no alternative plans for the use of The Roddens but in common with other statutory organisations, the Trust has a policy of exploring all options in relation to sites which are no longer considered integral to the delivery of Trust services.
“We fully support the former Ministerial commitment that existing permanent and long term temporary residents in statutory residential homes will be allowed to remain in their home as long as they wish and as long as their needs can continue to be met there. This means that the proposals do not present any change for those residents.
“We continue to encourage people to get involved in the consultation process, to read the documents and to respond. All responses will be carefully considered before the Trust’s final proposals are submitted to the Health and Social Care Minister.”
