Elderly residents fear they could be forced out after Coventry nursing home put up for sale

[dutchman]

Allesley Hall Nursing Home has been put up for sale by its owner



Worried elderly residents fear they could be forced out after the Coventry care home where they live was put up for sale. Allesley Hall Nursing Home is one of ten settings Methodist Homes for the Aged, the UK's largest charity care provider, is looking to sell to cut costs as part of a strategic restructure.

Allesley Hall, based on a heritage site in Allesley Hall Drive, is popular with many of its 45 residents who are anxious about what the future holds for them. Doreen Cadden, 89, says she fell in love with the place and its staff after moving in around 16 months ago.

"It's a lovely place and we really don't want it to close down," she told CoventryLive. "It would be great if someone could take it on, like a rich entrepreneur."

Doreen, who spent most of her working life at the British Thomson-Houston and GEC factories, added: "I'm a Blitz survivor - we'll not go down without a fight! We really are well looked after here.

"If I was going to die somewhere this would probably be the place." Doreen says staff members are just as disappointed as her and all the other residents. "They always tell me how much they enjoy working here," she said.

"Some of the ladies have only got three or four years before they retire, but some of the younger ones have a lot of their working life left. They live nearby and their children go to school locally so they are really settled in the area.

"It's a well-run home in beautiful grounds." Methodist Homes for the Aged says its decision to keep the home open reflects an ambition to sell it to someone who will retain it as a care facility. The company is confident of finding a suitable buyer in the next 12 months, but is not ruling out the prospect of closure if a deal can't be secured.

In that event, MHA says it would 'support residents and their families to find new care providers and staff to find new roles, hopefully through deployment into other roles within the charity'.

On MHA's restructure, Chief Executive Sam Monaghan said: "These difficult decisions have been made so that MHA continues to be a healthy and vibrant charity, providing quality care and support, and enabling older people to live later life well. The review took an in-depth look at our services, where we provide them and if they align with our plans for the future. It also took into consideration the well-documented external pressures the sector is facing.

"This year we mark our 80th anniversary and, while we wish we didn’t have to make these decisions, they are in the best interests of the charity to make sure we can continue to provide care and support for older people into the future."