Liverpool City Council opens first care home in 25 years

Brushwood in Speke is a joint partnership between Liverpool City Council and Shaw healthcare

Liverpool has opened its first council care home in over 25 years.

The £8m Brushwood care home in Speke has been built to meet growing demands for dementia care services, said a Liverpool City Council spokesman.

The 60-bed home on South Parade has 48 beds for long term residential care and 12 for assessment.

It is the first two new local authority-built homes in the city, with the second, Millvina House, opening in Everton in November.

Kathleen Doyle, 89 is one of Brushwood's first residents.

Her daughter Carol said she was relieved to have mother living in an area "she is familiar with".

Having regular contact with family and friends and being in an area she knows "makes so much difference", she added.

'Significant challenge'

The city council spends almost £50m a year on residential and nursing care, plus a further £11m on dementia and memory loss services.

It has borrowed money to build the two centres, with the repayments covered by income from the leases on each site.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said an increasing elderly population means the council is facing "a significant challenge" to ensure the social care system meets peoples needs.

He said: "The decision to invest in these two new purpose-built care homes that will offer residential and nursing dementia beds and carer respite is part of our invest to save strategy and will help ease pressure on other, more costly parts of the health service such as hospital beds, and save the public purse money."

Brushwood is a joint partnership between Liverpool City Council and Shaw healthcare who will be delivering care.

Geraint Evans, Commercial and Development Director for Shaw healthcare said the home "provides state-of-the-art accommodation", adding:

"The team at Brushwood will take a person-centred approach to care to achieve the best outcomes for residents. Our goal is to deliver the type of care that we would want for our own loved ones."