‘I fear she may not survive’: Families’ fury at council plans to close South Lanarkshire care home

Families are demanding the health secretary intervenes over fears that their loved ones may not survive being moved from an under-threat care home.

South Lanarkshire Council say they are facing a £33 million black hole in their health and social care budget, and to save £1.5 million they must close the only council-run care home, McClymont House in Lanark.

They have already closed a huge section of the home, and a dozen frail elderly residents remain as their families warn that their loved ones are too unwell to be moved.

Calls to save McClymont House

Mary Calveley, 70, whose mother, May McNee, 92, has been in the much-loved care home the longest, said: “Mum is one of the few residents who are still very much aware of the plans to close McClymont, and she is so distressed about it she told me she would rather die in her sleep than face having to be moved away from the place she now calls home.

“Mum and dad worked all their days and when my father died and my mother was no longer able to look after herself, she had to sell their home to pay for the care home she thought she would never leave.

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“Now she has virtually nothing left, she is facing having to be moved somewhere else where she doesn’t know anyone, and she will be traumatised and afraid. South Lanarkshire Council are suggesting she goes to a care home in East Kilbride, but that is a 100-mile round trip for her family to see her and that means she will be far lonelier away from all the people she knows and trusts.

“The McClymont care home has the highest standards of care and staff we think of as extended family. Closing the place down is a complete travesty and betrayal to all who rely on the place.

“We’ve written several times to get meetings with Health Secretary Neil Gray to implore him to intervene and ensure the council have enough money to keep the home open, but we are still waiting for his response.

“It’s a disgrace. Instead of sending millions in overseas aid, the government should be making sure our frail and elderly are a priority instead of being just a set of numbers on a spreadsheet.”

‘I fear she may not survive’

Emma Koubayssi, 44, who was brought up near Lanark, is terrified that the closure of McClymont and move elsewhere would traumatise her gran, Margaret Michie, 92.

She said: “We cannot believe that the most vulnerable people are suffering because the government refuse to properly fund our councils. The £1.5 million that would be “saved” if they shut the McClymont is a drop in the ocean compared to lives being put at stake.

“My gran, like many others in the home, suffers from dementia and Alzheimer’s. Moving her would be so traumatic, I fear she may not survive. She is settled where she is and deserves to live out the rest of her days in peace.

“The care home and its staff are absolutely wonderful, and the level of care they give is exemplary. This is not a situation where the level of care is so worrying residents have to be moved, it’s the opposite.

“We intend to fight with everything we have to keep the McClymont open. Our elderly deserve better than this.”

South Lanarkshire Integration Joint Board (IJB) said: “These budgetary pressures are being experienced across health and social care in Scotland, with similarly difficult decisions having to be taken elsewhere.

“The board agreed that an urgent appeal should be made to the Scottish Government for additional funding for health and social care and that, should this be successful, the decision regarding McClymont House would be reconsidered by the IJB. We await a response on this from the Scottish Government.

“Meanwhile, and at all times, the ongoing wellbeing, safety and dignity of the long-term residents in McClymont House remains our primary focus. The necessary and appropriate due process has been followed throughout what we recognise as a challenging time.

“We will ensure each resident’s individual needs and views are considered properly, compassionately, within an appropriate timescale. Care will be given to sourcing appropriate placements for each person in close collaboration and discussion with residents and families.”

Local MSP Colin Smyth, Labour, said: “South Lanarkshire keep telling me older people prefer to be cared for in their own home. But for McClymont residents, this is their home.

“At a time delayed discharge is spiralling upwards in South Lanarkshire, the failure to use the empty wing in McClymont as a step-down facility to get people out of hospital and free up beds shows just what a short-sighted decision this closure is.”