Whitby care home forced to close due to 'national shortage of trained nursing and care staff'

A care home in Whitby, rated Good by the Care Quality Commission, has revealed it is having to close, due to a ‘national shortage of trained nursing and care staff’.

Hawkesgarth Lodge care home on Station Road, Hawsker, will be closing on 2 May and has given notice to its 26 residents to leave.

The home revealed that it was a “difficult decision”, with a spokesman saying the “acute national shortage of trained nursing and care home staff” had meant the care home had been unable to recruit an “appropriately qualified manager and have faced difficulty in retaining sufficient permanent care staff”.

As a result, the home felt “unable to guarantee in the future the high quality care that our residents expect and deserve, and we therefore took the decision to close the home”.

The care home is owned by Embrace and Hawkesgarth Lodge provides residential and nursing care for older people, with residents enjoying regular activities such as visiting entertainers, exercise classes, day trips, arts and crafts, and gardening.

When the home was last inspected in December 2015, inspectors praised the staff as being persistent in seeking additional services for people to improve their quality of life.

They also found “there was a positive culture in the way that staff and people who lived there interacted”.

“Staff were respectful in how they spoke to people and showed understanding when they interacted with them.

“We saw genuine kindness; staff adjusted their tone of voice in relation to the situation and we saw staff utilizing appropriate touch to offer support or to reassure,” said inspectors.

Residents, families and the local authority are now looking for alternative residential care.