Southern Cross Collapse

[Gromit]

The imminant collapse of the Private Care Home company Southern Cross will have serious implacations on local councils, taxpayers and the Government's Health privatisation plans.
If (or when) Southern Cross goes tits up, 31,000 old people (many 80, 90 year olds) will find themselves homeless. The only people who can save them are local authorities, but the costs will be astronomical. Us Council Tax payers will foot the bill for this Private company failing so miserably.

This is spectacularly bad timing for the Government, when they are trying to convince us that letting private companies run the NHS will be its saviour.

Whatever happens, the collapse of this company will be very messy.

Will this be the death knell of the Governments NHS plans?

[BertiWooster]

Who pays for the cost of care for the residents in this company's homes , at the moment ?

[mushroom25]

this seems to explain it concisely - http://www.guardian.c...l-care-southern-cross

[Gromit]

There is a telling phrase right at the end of that Guardian Report...

// Southern Cross will in the end almost certainly be too big to be allowed to fail //

Are they working on a bank style bail-out of this private company? So much for austerity measures, cuts and reducing the deficit. It seems we are in new territory, and it will be interesting how this turns out.

[rov1100]

Not so long ago patients who were unable to be sent home were kept in hospital beds. They called it bed blocking. Now many have been dischargd into the community the beds are no longer there to treat more incoming patients. So its all a scam blamed on these unfortunate oldies.

If the government was really concerned about these overstayers they could have non medical wards available and treated in the dignity they deserve without putting £mns into the hands of the Rachmann privateers.

[DEN53]

I had my Mum removed the end of last year from a Southern Cross Care Home, because she was physically abused. We have an oncoming investgation which is concluding very soon. The Local Council stopped sending any new residents to this particular Care Home, and the Manager was suspended.

The staff, on the floor my Mum was on, consisted of 3 at best 4 to look after 20 or so residents. The furniture was tatty and I had to buy my Mum new bedding etc - god knows what they spent the £584.00 per week on.

My Mum is now in a Barchester Group run Care Home and it is lovely - it costs £600.00 per week.

[askyourgran]

£600p.w! That is terrible does it cost so much to stay at home. I worked in a care home for a couple of weeks in the office, enough, the staff nurses were short tempered and so were some of the active residents. One old dear fell out of bed one night and they couldn't find a clean bandage to strap her arm with they fished one out of the skip. I believe the Council paid so much towards the care fees.

[ubasses]

My Mum is in a private care home specialising in dementia, pays £670 per week. The staff are wonderful, she is very happy and they keep me informed of everything. She also suffers from post stroke epsilepsy. It doesn't matter when I turn up there is always something going on, someone is usually getting a cuddle from the staff and I arrived one day to find a carer who was in work for a course dancing with a resident during her break, just because resident said she missed dancing.