Montrose Care Home - options appraisal and update - AM reviewed
Renfrewshire Council · 6 November 2024
Back to Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board — 6 November 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Page 1 of 4 ___________________________________________________________________ To: Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board On: 6 November 2024 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Chief Executive ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Montrose Care Home and Day Centre – Options Appraisal and Update ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 The purpose of this report is to inform members of an option appraisal carried out for Montrose Care Home, Paisley, following the decision by the IJB in March 2024 to announce the closure of the existing service from that property. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that the Board: (i) Notes the content of the option appraisal presented within this report; (ii) Agrees to declare Montrose Care Home as surplus to the Council’s property requirements; (iii) Agrees to the property being marketed for sale. ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Background 3.1. Montrose Care Home and Day Centre was opened by Renfrewshire Council in 2007 in Heriot Avenue in Paisley. It was one of three new care home facilities commissioned and built at that time and owned by the local authority. The other two facilities are at Renfrew (Cockets Loan) and at Hunterhill, Paisley. These facilities are operated by the Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP). 3.2. The care home facility was constructed with 60 rooms (5 wings with 12 rooms each). Recently it has been operating with 48 single rooms, 36 of which are en-suite. One wing was previously closed from use by the service. A large day care centre sits adjoins the care home (with its own dedicated entrance). The day centre has not been in operation for some time. Both the care home and day centre buildings are suitable for wheelchair access and use.
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Page 2 of 4 3.3. In March 2024, the Renfrewshire Integration Joint Board (IJB) took a series of decisions to support their Sustainable Futures Programme aiming to address a projected financial budget gap of £14.7 million in 2024/25. One of these was the reduction of care homes operated by the HSCP in Renfrewshire from 3 to 2 following completion of a residential care option appraisal, equalities impact assessment and extensive engagement, carried out by HSCP 3.4. The decision reached at this meeting was to agree to close Montrose Care Home and Day Centre with effect from autumn 2024. The IJB report from March 2024 sets out the option appraisal and outcomes in full. ________________________________________________________________ 4. Renfrewshire Council Options Appraisal 4.1. Following the decision by the IJB, Renfrewshire Council officers undertook an option appraisal for the Montrose facility at the request of the Council’s Corporate Management Team (CMT) and reported the outcome of this appraisal to the CMT in July 2024. 4.2. The outcomes of this analysis are set out below. Option Appraisal 2024 4.3. The option appraisal was carried out to determine whether there were identifiable demands from other Council services, or partner organisations for reusing the Montrose Care Home facility. These options were limited to services which may be able to reuse the existing building without major physical intervention / demolition. The outcomes are summarised below. 4.4. The NHS confirmed that they are unable to operate bedspaces that are not within an NHS facility or on a hospital site. 4.5. Children’s Services stated that there are no school capacity issues identified within the Foxbar area and that the property is too large for a children’s home (with the Care Inspectorate preferring such facilities to be of a smaller scale). 4.6. The consultation carried out did not identify any potential for a Council or partner service to reuse the existing building. 4.7. Given the previous use, Council officers were keen to understand the likely demand for a private sector operator to acquire the property from Renfrewshire Council and run such a facility. To this end the Council commissioned CBRE (specialist agency team) to examine the scale of this likely demand in this particular location . CBRE report on demand for a care home 4.8. In October 2024 CBRE produced a report for Renfrewshire Council examining: • Demand analysis for care home provision in this location;
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Page 3 of 4 • Competitive positioning in relation to other care homes within the catchment; • A potential marketing strategy for the building; • An opinion on prospective sale value for the property; 4.9 The agents concluded that there may be demand for a private care operator to take on the existing building and recommend that a targeted (at these specific sector operators) marketing exercise takes place alongside the general marketing of the building should the Council agree to put it up for sale. ________________________________________________________________ 5. Conclusion 5.1. Following an option appraisal carried out with relevant Council services and partner organisations, no known demand for the Montrose Care Home and Day Centre has been identified. Given the decision by HSCP to cease their operated service, the building is now empty of residents, although HSCP have kept an administrative office presence in the building meantime, pending decisions on its future. 5.2. The recommendation of this report is that the Board agree to declare the property surplus to Council requirements and to move towards marketing the property for sale. 5.3. A further report will then be brought back to the Board with the outcomes of the marketing exercise in early 2025 for the Council to reach a decision on next steps. ___________________________________________________________________ Implications of the Report 1. Financial – Potential capital receipt for the Council if the property can be sold. 2. HR & Organisational Development – None. He implications for HSCP are dealt with in the reports to IJB referred to in the body of this report 3. Community Planning – Reshaping our place, our economy and our future – The sale of the building will bring certainty to the local community in terms of future use and hope to bring about the productive re-use of a landmark building in the centre of the Foxbar community, helping to create job opportunities and contribute to economic growth. 4. Legal – None. 5. Property/Assets – Declaration of existing service property as surplus. Potential sale of property to third party. Security and maintenance costs for the Council until such time as the property is sold have been calculated and accounted for.
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Page 4 of 4 6. Information Technology – None. 7. Equality & Human Rights - The Recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 8. Health & Safety – None. 9. Procurement – None. 10. Risk – None. 11. Privacy Impact – None. 12. Cosla Policy Position – None. 13. Children’s Rights – None 14. Climate Risk - None ________________________________________________________________ Appendices None List of Background Papers (a) Sustainable Futures Programme: Final Options for Consideration; Renfrewshire IJB; 22 March 2024 ___________________________________________________________________ Author: Alasdair Morrison, Head of Economy and Development; alasdair.morrison@renfrewshire.co.uk