Care provider to close five care home 'losing substantial amounts of money'

Larchwood Care, which runs 55 care homes across England, Scotland and Wales, has announced it is to close five of its homes which are “losing substantial amounts of money”.

Brookes House in Brentwood, Essex; Copper Beeches in Liss, Hampshire; Mountwood in Andover; Wickwar in South Gloucestershire and Withy Grove in Preston will be closing on or before 31 May 2019. Local commissioners and residents, families and staff have all been notified of the closures.

Tony Stein, chief executive of Larchwood Care, said: “These five homes have been losing substantial amounts of money over an extended period of time and their continued operation has become unsustainable for the company.

“There are a number of external sector-wide factors that have contributed to this decision, including the inadequacy of fees paid by commissioners, high operating costs and, low admission rates. These factors impact upon staff morale and make recruitment of staff very difficult.”

Mr Stein revealed that Larchwood Care had been hoping to work through these issues but “given the issues the sector faces, we are unable to do so”. Larchwood Care is working closely with social services, CCGs and others to support residents and their families. They will also work with employees to help find alternative employment, however they do anticipate redundancies, according to Mr Stein.

He added: “This has been an incredibly tough decision to take and all other options have been considered. It is the individual circumstances of the homes that have led to this decision and we would reassure residents, families, staff and commissioners that all our other homes will continue providing the excellent care the company prides itself on.”

In their latest inspections by the Care Quality Commission, Brookes House was rated ‘requires improvement’, Copper Beeches was rated ‘good’, Mountwood was rated ‘requires improvement’, Wickwar was rated ‘requires improvement’ and Withy Grove was rated ‘inadequate’.