Care home owners of Blar Buidhe in Stornoway have taken the decision to pull the plug on 10 homes.

In a statement HC-One said that it was announcing plans that would see 10 of its 57 homes in Scotland being put on the market “to better meet the current and future needs of the communities it serves”, and to respond to what the company described has described as “the growing demand for more complex care and dementia care”.

James Tugendhat, HC-One’s Chief Executive, said:

“As we plan how best to use our resources to continuously improve our care homes, we are determined to invest where we can have the greatest impact and more effectively ready ourselves for the evolving needs of those we care for.

“As a result, we are putting 52 of our homes up for sale in areas where we feel our communities would be better served by a local operator in conjunction with other local services. We are also proposing to close 4 homes. In both cases, we will work closely with our local partners and commissioners."

Mr Tugendhat said in his statement that the planned sales and closures would only happen "when we are convinced that we have found the right alternative operator, and when Residents are able to safely move to their new care placement, ensuring continuity of care throughout the pandemic."

He added:

“We will also be providing all possible support to our Colleagues to make these processes as smooth as possible for them. It will be business as usual for every home until all these processes are complete.”

GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith responding to HC-One's announcement said that the company was "demonstrating everything that is wrong with our broken model of care and the private provision of residential care".

Mr Smith said:

“The directors and spaghetti bowl of interest groups behind HC-One will not suffer from these sales, the uncertainty will only affect exhausted key workers, vulnerable services users and worried families, and the public purse.

“Workers and service users in HC-One are now waiting anxiously to see what their futures hold; it’s added emotional punishment after a horrific year where we are still very much in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic."