Gale Lane care home slammed by Care Quality Commission

Rated as inadequate and now in “special measures”

South Park care home report

An inspection of the South Park care home took place in August.  It was the first since concerns were raised following an inspection in 2014. Then several breaches of regulations had been found. By August these had mostly been addressed but 6 more issues were discovered.

The care home has had a chequered history

The report can be read here

The report says, “The service was not safe. There were insufficient numbers of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced persons employed in the service to meet people’s needs. The registered provider had employed a number of agency staff to fill the staff vacancies, but people who used the service said they did not feel safe when these workers were on duty and we observed some unsafe care practices during our inspection”

It goes on to say, “.We found problems with the cleanliness and hygiene within the service. In particular there was a significant and unpleasant odour in three bedrooms, two sluices and a number of bathing facilities on both units”

The full report ca be downloaded from here .

The South Park facility accommodates 80 residents.

South Park has 6 months in which to make “significant improvements” and will be inspected again shortly

Another home, Haisthorpe House on Holgate Road, was also rated as inadequate by Inspectors

York Council completes 2015 street light upgrade programme

The Council has completed this years programme of street light upgrades.

The new LED lighting units are expected to use less electricity and be more reliable.

They will also contribute towards reducing the City’s “carbon footprint”

In  total 6017 units have been upgraded during the summer at a cost of nearly £1.5 million.

The Council has not yet announced whether it will go ahead with its threat to “dim” street lights after midnight.

Although the Council claimed that a “dimming” trial had not produced any complaints from the four streets on which it was tried, concerns about security late at night mean that any extension could raise concerns.

In the Westfield ward the following streets have seen upgraded. A complete list of works undertaken across the City can be found by clicking here

Westfield road list

(NB Not all units were necessarily changed in each street)

Morrisons in Acomb applies to sell alcohol until midnight each day

Morrison’s supermarket in Acomb has applied to open from 7:00pm until midnight each day.

Morrisons Acomb

The license application to the City of York Council also means that alcohol sales would be available for the same period.

A similar application has been submitted for Morrison’s Foss Islands store.

There have been sporadic problems with anti social behaviour at night in the Front Street area and the car park has been a magnet for some trouble makers. The store is also located quite close to residential properties so there is bound to be anxiety about the impact of the proposal.Morrisons Oct 2015

Representations to the application must be made in writing to City of York, Licensing Services, Hazel Court EcoDepot, James Street, York. Y010 3DS. Representations must be received within a 28 day period beginning the first day after the application is made.    Residents have until 20th November to raise any objections with the Council Email: licensing.unit@york.gov.uk Tel 552512

The store currently opens between 8:00am and 9:00pm each day except Sunday when the hours are 10:00am to 4:00pm

A similar application for extended hours was recently submitted by the Lidl store on Thanet Road.

Latest planning applications for the Acomb and Westfield Wards

Below are the latest planning applications received by the York Council for the Acomb and Westfield wards.

Acomb

None

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Westfield

Location:       2 Waterman Court York YO24 3FB

Proposal:       Installation of timber boundary fence (retrospective) instead of brick wall as previously approved in planning permission 14/01935/FUL

Ref No: 15/02184/FUL

Applicant:      Mr John Appleton        Contact Mr Josh Mann    Consultation Expiry Date        16 November 2015 Case Officer:   David Johnson   Expected Decision Level DEL

——–

 Representations can be made in favour of, or in objection to, any application via the Planning on line web site.  http://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/

The Council now no longer routinely consults neighbours by letter when an application is received

York Road Oakhaven older persons home plans announced

Will be replaced with an “extra care” facility.
Oakhaven site plan - clckc to enlarge

Oakhaven site plan – click to enlarge

Following a public consultation exercise, the Council is being recommended to go ahead with the conversion of the Oakhaven care home site on York Road into an “extra care” facility.

The City is gearing up to meet an expected 50% increase in the number of residents who will be aged over 75 by 2030.

This forms part of the Council’s plan to provide, by the end of 2018, 525 new units of accommodation of which 343 will serve those with high care needs including dementia.  “225 out of date care beds will be replaced”.

Another home – Grove House on Penleys Grove Street – will also be closed. That site will be sold in order to finance the improvements at other facilities for the elderly.

A report, being considered on Thursday, acknowledges that most “extra care” facilities are located on the east of the Ouse. However it fails to recognise the demand for more accommodation for elderly people on the Lowfields school site.

Instead in a separate report the Council is being asked to develop such facilities at the Burnholme school site.

Report fails to recognise the demand to establish more accommodation for elderly people on the Lowfields school site

Report fails to recognise the need for more accommodation for elderly people on the Lowfields school site, which has been left empty and derelict by the Council for over 3 years.

On Lowfields the report says, “The use of the Lowfields site for specialist accommodation with care for older people has been the subject of previous procurement which concluded that such development was unaffordable. However, we continue to examine the use of this site to meet housing, health and care objectives”.

Which means officials have made no progress on marketing the site?

The Oakhaven replacement will provide only 50 of the 525 beds needed to satisfy demand in the City

 The papers reveal that the Council will not run the replacement facility at Oakhaven.

Instead it will seek a “partner” to fund, build and operate the extra care scheme. The Council is also relying on another private sector home being constructed at the Terry’s factory site (which received planning permission last week).

It will also sell off the Windsor House home in Ascot Way.

The consultation exercise concluded, “That 97% of questionnaire respondents agreed that bigger bedrooms, en-suite facilities, wider corridors and more social space should be key features of residential care homes. Bigger bedrooms give more social space for residents to entertain visitors, they can accommodate the resident’s own furniture and bigger rooms give staff more space in which to work and support residents, particularly where bed hoists need to be used”.

Work on the Oakhaven Extra care home is expected to start in early 2017 and may be available for occupation in May 2018.

Given the Council’s shambolic record on project management, we doubt if we will see any improvements much before the end of the decade.