Parliamentary praise for Whitnash care home enterprise

Campaigners hoping to run a Whitnash care home as a social enterprise have received encouragement from a Government minister.

Residents and councillors in Whitnash are planning to take over the running of the Lawns care home if Warwickshire County Council proposals to close some or all of its ten care homes go ahead.

In the House of Commons on Tuesday minister Paul Burstow MP (Lib Dem) told MPs he welcomed the model after Warwick and Leamington MP Chris White (Con) asked if the Government would encourage councils to support and encourage such enterprises.

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Speaking afterwards, Mr White said it had worked elsewhere in the country, and dismissed the suggestion that closures were only needed because of Government spending cuts.

He said: “People just want to get the same out of things they had before, whether that’s a youth club or people who use residential care. When people do things like that there isn’t a great deal of philosophical debate.

“When we can get local communities involved like people in Whitnash, the voluntary sector, charities or social enterprises, the money they create will be invested back into the local community. The old ‘public sector is public sector’ argument is not something we need to be committed to.”

The county council claims it costs 40 per cent more to run the home itself, than buying the service from a private sector. Other long term plans involve ‘extra care’ accommodation in which elderly people buy or rent flats in sheltered housing-style schemes.

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But Cllr Bernard Kirton believes such ‘care in the community’ schemes do not live up to their promise, and that there will always be a need for care homes.

He said: “Provided we are given reasonable goodwill we can make a success of running the Lawns and make sure that local people and others can use it.”

The county council will debate proposals on Wednesday December 22.