Care home closure could be 'death sentence' - dad

Gavin Beardsley's son Daniel is one of nine residents of Sherburn House, all of whom have complex needs

The parents of a man with complex needs have said the closure of the care home where he lives could be a "death sentence".

Sherburn House in Knaresborough, run by the Wilf Ward Family Trust, cares for nine people with learning and physical disabilities.

However, issues with recruiting and retaining staff, as well as rising costs, have resulted in the planned closure of the service on 16 December.

North Yorkshire Council, which said it supported one resident at Sherburn House, said it would "work with them to find a new home if this decision goes ahead as proposed by the Wilf Ward Family Trust".

Sherburn House was opened by the Wilf Ward Family Trust in 2016, on the day Daniel Beardsley turned 18.

In the following months, he moved into the purpose-built home.

Daniel was born with a chromosomal abnormality, and "could be the only one on the planet with his condition", according to his father, Gavin Beardsley.

"We were told he'd never make it past five years old, never walk, never communicate," he said.

"There's been so many occasions where we've nearly lost him. I've honestly said to him on a number of occasions in hospital, 'just let go'.

"He's proved everybody wrong and for the last 10 years a lot of that is down to Sherburn."

However, on 9 October, the family were invited to a meeting to discuss the "future of Sherburn House", Daniel's mother Rebecca Fennell said, where they were told about the planned closure.

"Even the CEO said it's very tight timescales," she added.

'Never broken even'

The decision to close Sherburn House was taken "with a heavy heart", the charity's chief executive Paul McCay said.

Speaking to the BBC, he said there was an "organisational sense of pride" in the service.

"We do very good stuff there and we support people with some of the most complex needs in the country."

However, the service has never broken even financially, he said.

"We have costs that we are told we have to increase, and rightfully too, such as staff salaries.

"But the recent increase to employers' National Insurance Contributions impacted the trust to the tune of £600,000 unfunded."

Sherburn House opened in 2016 and cares for nine adults with complex needs

The Wilf Ward Family Trust is commissioned by local councils and healthcare authorities to provide services for people with disabilities across Yorkshire.

However, Mr McCay said staffing, food and energy costs had risen significantly more than the funding it had received in recent years.

He said larger providers could pay professional negotiators to "fight for" more funding, but he did not have that resource.

"To go in and negotiate when you're facing a brick wall is really difficult."

As a result, the charity was providing six-figure subsidies to Sherburn House each year which Mr McCay said "can't continue".

Richard Webb, North Yorkshire Council corporate director for health and adult services, said: "We always want people to continue to live in their existing home where this is the right decision for them and we are sorry to see that the Wilf Ward Family Trust has made this decision about its service."

Daniel's mother Rebecca Fennell said Sherburn House was like a "family", which was being "ripped apart"

Daniel cannot communicate verbally, but carers had a "finely tuned" way of understanding him, Gavin explained.

"Whether it's hand gestures, moving his feet, it could be the blink of an eye, he's trying to communicate what's wrong with him," he said.

Recently, a staff member was quick to react when his bowel ripped through his abdominal wall, putting pressure on his lungs, and he was taken to hospital.

Gavin said: "We nearly lost him.

"This is a death sentence for each and every one of them to be leaving Sherburn without getting the special care that these guys have trained for the last 10 years."

As well as relationships with staff and the local hospital, Rebecca said residents' hobbies and friends were at Sherburn House and in the surrounding area.

"Dan goes and watches the football," she said.

"He has all of his social activities centred around here so why should he have to lose out on that?"

She added that the weeks since learning about the closure had been similar to a "grieving process".

"It's the loss of the home that Daniel's had for the last 10 years, and then the staff. It's all being ripped apart."

She launched a petition against the closure which reached almost 1,000 signatures in its first week.

She and Gavin said that it demonstrated more could have been done to help the Wilf Ward Family Trust to overcome its financial challenges, through fundraising.

"We could have somehow helped, but we didn't have the opportunity," Gavin said.

'No redundancy risk'

Mr McCay said trust managers had kept a "constant watch" on Sherburn House since it opened.

"Over the years I've put in different leadership, I've put in different approaches to delivery, I've put in extra managers here, recruitment teams."

However, in the last year, only 60% of staff roles were filled.

As such, the trust started conversations with commissioners in July, before deciding to close Sherburn House in September.

Since families were told about the decision in October, Mr McCay said staff members were finding future placements for residents affected, with some hoping to move with service-users.

No staff had been put at risk of redundancy, he added.

”We are consulting with them around moving to other services and we are looking at redeployment options."

Charity CEO Paul McCay said it was “frankly gutting” to close Sherburn House

Asked about his hopes for the upcoming budget, Mr McCay said: "Successive governments have kicked the can of social care down the road far too often.

"Unless there was an immediate funding that meant that you could take our staff at a minimum to band three in the NHS so they had parity, I don't think that we can overcome some of the problems that exist in the social care system, which is that it is not seen as an attractive career."

That was echoed by Tom Gordon, the MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, who said the "really sad" situation with Sherburn House was "just a symptom of a wider problem".

He highlighted a Liberal Democrat proposal for social care workers to be paid at least £2 an hour more than the current minimum wage.

"People can leave the social care sector and go to work in supermarkets, often for more money," he added.

"What we actually need is a proper long-term fix to social care."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with the patients and families affected by the closure of this care home.

"This government is working hard to rebuild the social care sector after more than a decade of neglect.

"We are raising the quality of care by valuing and supporting our vital care workforce - legislating for a Fair Pay Agreement backed by £500m of funding, expanding career opportunities through the Care Workforce Pathway, and investing £12m in learning, development and new qualifications.

"We are strengthening join-up between health and social care services so that people experience more integrated and person-centered care by developing neighbourhood health services and reforming the funding model."

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