BRADFORD Council is set to scrap plans for a new care home in Saltaire - despite £500,000 worth of planning having already been done for the facility.
Instead, the council is likely to sell off the site the 50-bed home was due to be built on.
Plans for a short-stay care home on the former Neville Grange Resource Centre date back several years, and most recent figures estimate that the 50-bed facility was due to cost almost £14m.
But a report going to the cash-strapped council’s Executive on Tuesday suggests that the development be scrapped, arguing that fewer than half of the beds would actually be needed.
The proposed home would have been built on Queens Road, off Bingley Road, and be used to house people who are well enough to be released from hospital, but not ready to return home.
Members of the Executive will be told that there is now less demand for this type of bed space.
The introduction of H-FAST, a new system where hospital leavers are provided more support to return to their homes, is one of the reasons for reducing the need for intermediate care beds, the report says.
The long-empty site is now this site is likely to be added to the list of “surplus assets” that Bradford Council will sell in an effort to balance its budget.
Referring to the success of the H-FAST system, the report says: “It has led to a large reduction in the need for bedded intermediate care facilities after hospital treatment.
“The success of H-FAST has led partners to review their projections for the need for bed-based intermediate care.
“This has fallen from a projected need for 155 council care home beds in November 2023 to 61 beds in July 2024.”
An existing 34-bed intermediate care home, Beckfield Care Home, on Bolton Wood Road, is deemed to be sufficient to meet demand.
This home was initially due to close once the Saltaire facility opened, but will now remain open.
The report adds: “The Saltaire Care Facility programme is at a juncture where £500k has been spent to date on planning, consultancy and initial costs – but contracts for the remaining £12.9m build have not been agreed or signed.
“It is therefore recommended that this programme to build a new 50-bed care facility does not go ahead and that Beckfield continues to be used as short-stay beds.
Referring to the site, it suggests it is “returned to Estates to generate a capital receipt.”
The meeting takes place on Tuesday at 10.30am.
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