Council invests in new care homes

By Kevin Keane
Fife reporter
BBC Scotland news website

Fife Council runs 10 care homes across the area with 297 residents

Plans for a five-year programme of building new care homes for the elderly have been announced by Fife Council.

The authority, which runs 10 homes housing almost 300 residents, said it had set aside £40m to build the first four or five homes at about £8m each.

After the first phase, the council will "take stock" of the remaining homes to see if more need replacing.

If approved, Appin and Raith Gates homes in Kirkcaldy and Alan McLure home in Glenrothes will be rebuilt first.

The proposals will go before the social work and health committee on Monday.

'Changing needs'

Figures show an increasing elderly population across Scotland, but fewer people want to be looked after in care homes in their twilight years.

Only two of the current stock of 10 have en-suite facilities and councillors want all the care homes to be modernised

Committee chairman, cllr Tim Brett, said he had no medium-term plans to reduce the number of beds that are provided but could not give longer-term guarantees.

He told the BBC Scotland news website: "In five years time the answer is 'yes there will' [be the same number of beds] but if we're talking about 20 years time then I am not so sure."

There will be a period of anxiety because they will wonder what it will mean for them Executive director Stephen Moore Fife Council

He said: "The world of social work is changing and we are looking at other ways of supporting people."

He said that more elderly people were choosing to be looked after at home.

A study has been carried out on the state of the council's 10 care homes and has identified those most in need of modernisation.

Executive director of Social Work, Stephen Moore, insisted the homes were still in a perfectly decent state and that this was about investing in the future.

He said it would inevitably cause some disruption to existing residents.

"There will be a period of anxiety because they will wonder what it will mean for them. We need to work hard with every single service user to let them know we are determined to meet their needs," he said.

Labour's social work spokesman in Fife, cllr Mark Hood, said he was broadly in support of an investment programme but needed assurances about where the money would come from.