Kent County Council [KCC] is expected to announce the closure of the Dorothy Lucy Centre and Kiln Court when it meets tomorrow (10 March).
Both care homes will close in August and the Dorothy Lucy Centre will continue to offer day care facilities until March 2017. Alternative accommodation for users of the Dorothy Lucy Centre will be found in the private sector.
I'm disappointed these care homes are to close. They a much valued community asset and the staff there have done great work over many years caring for the frail and elderly, as well as providing support to local families who needed respite facilities.
But I am pleased I was able to help get Kent County Council to hold back their original decision while they carried out further research to identify alternative local providers for all the services provided by the centre.
That research is now complete and the council is due to make its final decision tomorrow.
While I understand the reasons KCC have put forward for closing the centre, providing high-quality health care locally is a must. I will continue to monitor the situation and press KCC to ensure good replacement facilities are actually in place before the final closure of Kiln Court and the Dorothy Lucy Centre takes place.
There are also opportunities for health agencies to use this overall situation to improve provision in Maidstone and across Kent, particularly for dementia care home and nursing care home beds.
In Faversham I will be pressing those agencies and KCC to ensure they work together to make the most of these opportunities, maybe using the Kiln Court site as part of that.”
Further details can be found here.
