The need for extra beds for the
growing number of people in Norfolk with dementia means a Norwich care home
which shut two years ago could be revamped and reopened.
Mountfield Care Home, in Millcroft to
the north of the city, was one of four care homes which closed when a new £19m
care village opened in Bowthorpe.
Residents moved out of Mountfield in
2016 to be re-homed at Bowthorpe Care Village. That has an 80-bed specialist
dementia care home run by NorseCare and a 92-apartment housing with care scheme
run by Saffron Housing Trust.
But NorseCare, an arms-length company
of Norfolk County Council, now wants permission to revamp, refurbish and extend
Mountfield to help cope with demand for dementia care.
Karen Knight, managing director of
NorseCare, said: “With the current high demand and projected increase in the
number of people who will require residential dementia care across the whole
county, Norsecare are confident that this home will be well placed to provide
quality care for people who require our specialist support.”
The proposal, lodged with Norwich
City Council, is to refurbish and extend the existing, currently empty, 39-bed
care home to create a 46-bed care home, 44 of which would be en-suite rooms.
The existing care home is two storeys
high and the extension would also be two storeys in scale, but designed with
two gabled wings.
NorseCare has not said how much the
project will cost, but documents lodged with the city council state that it
would need 16 full-time staff and 29 part-time staff.
If planning permission is secured,
the home could be ready to welcome residents by autumn next year.
The city council will make a decision
on whether to grant permission in due course.
Of the other three care homes which
were closed, Heathfield, in Cannell Green, has already been turned into student
accommodation having been sold for £701.000.
Somerley House, in Somerleyton
Gardens, which was sold for £1.1m, is also being turned into homes for
students.
And the city council last year gave
the go-ahead for Philadelphia House, in Penn Grove, which sold for £610,000 to
be turned into 18 apartments.
SOURCE: Eastern Daily Press, Dan Grimmer
It's good to see that they are making use of available resources where possible and putting them to good use.
No comments:
Post a Comment