Petition calls to save a Paisley care home earmarked for closure

Hundreds of people have signed a petition opposing plans to shut Montrose Care Home in Foxbar.

The facility is earmarked for closure to try and help Renfrewshire Council fill a budget gap amounting to £14.7m.

Last year, Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) suggested reducing the care home estate to two homes, with those at risk being Montrose Care Home, Hunterhill Care Home or Renfrew Care Home.

The cost-cutting measure, which would save around £329,000, will be brought before the board for consideration this month.

Montrose Care Home currently houses 34 permanent residents, and it also has a unit for interim patients coming from the hospital and waiting to go home or be placed somewhere else - but this is also closing in April due to cuts.

Campaigners hoping to see the proposals reversed are to protest outside of Renfrewshire Council on Thursday 21 March at 13:45.

'Grave effects'

The petition, titled Save Montrose Care Home, reads: "This decision would have grave effects on the residents of Montrose, their families, the staff and the community.

"Forcing residents with a high level of needs, to move from familiar surroundings can and will have detrimental effects to their health and wellbeing.

"Many of the resident's families live locally and travelling to see their loved ones on one or two busses every day is simply unfeasible.

"'Annie's Law' introduced in 2021, recognises that family and friends play an essential role in the health and wellbeing of people who live in care homes and that every older adult within a care home has the right to connect with family, friends and communities.

"Renfrewshire Council is now putting barriers in place for residents to connect with loved ones as the residents would be split between both Hunterhill Care Home and Renfrew Care Home making it hard for loved ones to commute.

"Uprooting vulnerable adults from a place that has been their safe haven and home for so many years will cause stress and distress to everyone involved."

'We're going to give it our all'

Laurie McEachren started the petition after working at Montrose Care Home for more than a decade.

She told Clyde 1 News: "We really can't see a future where all of our residents that we know and love are relocated to various places all over Renfrewshire.

"We'll do anything in our power to try and stop that. We know it's going to be hard and there will be challenges, but we're a bunch of strong-minded people so we're going to give it our all.

"We've got such a high level of need within Montrose Care Home.

"We've got people living with dementia, someone who is completely blind and someone who is profoundly deaf.

"We've spent so long building up their confidence and to make them start all over again seems completely unfair.

"I really feel that it would have such a detrimental effect on the residents.

"Everyone has built up such strong relationships, between the staff and residents. There are friendship groups within the home and to displace everyone will have a bad impact."

'Working hard to address the gap'

A spokesperson from Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) said: “Our Officers are working hard to identify areas to address the budget gap, which is currently projected as £14.7 million.

"We are looking across all services to identify savings, but the initial proposals put forward for consideration represent areas where evidence shows we can safely make our existing service model more efficient.

“In November 2023 the Integration Joint Board (IJB) agreed that assessment of this proposal should be progressed, including stakeholder engagement, the development of an options appraisal and EQIA.

"This work has been undertaken and will be presented for consideration at the next meeting of the IJB, which is scheduled for Friday 22 March 2024.

“It is important to emphasise that no decisions have yet been made on this proposal.”

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