Fremington Manor care home set to close

The charity which runs Fremington Manor has announced the care home is going to close.

Care South, a not-for-profit care provider which also operates Kenwith Castle care home at Abbotsham, announced the closure to residents, relatives and staff at the home on March 11.

The charity told the North Devon Gazette there was no set date for closure yet because it wanted to ensure all residents were first found suitable alternatives locally and that the home’s 64 staff were supported.

The reasons for closure include difficulty recruiting enough staff and a lack of staff was one of the main reasons the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated the home as ‘requires improvement’ on its last inspection.

Care South said the home had been running under capacity for some time and currently has just 33 residents out of a capacity for 60.

The manor is a grand Grade II* Listed building, first built in the late 17th or early 18th century but extensively remodelled into its present form in the 19th century.

Care South leases the building and said ‘significant expenditure’ would be needed to keep it fully maintained and safe for residents and staff, with works likely to be intrusive and continue for quite some time.

A Care South statement said: “For some considerable time now it has become increasingly difficult to provide the very good care associated with Care South given the age and nature of the accommodation and environment of Fremington Manor.

“Whilst Fremington Manor is a beautiful Grade II* Listed Building, the challenging internal environment is generally not attractive to potential residents and the home has operated at some 60 to 70% of capacity for quite a while.”

It added: “In addition, it has become increasingly difficult to attract staff and have therefore become more reliant on agency staff than we would like, and the Care Quality Commission have rated the service as Requires Improvement.

“Care South’s professional advisers have indicated that a significant amount of expenditure is required to keep the home safe for both residents and staff and these works are likely to be quite intrusive and take place over a protracted period of time.

“We are sorry to say that the nature and extent of those works, combined with the other on-going challenges that the home is facing, have meant that Care South has taken the decision to close the home.”

The manor has been a care home since 1985 but has been operated by Care South since 2008. The charity's other home in North Devon – Kenwith Castle – will not be affected.

The statement concluded: “Throughout the closure process, Care South’s paramount concern is for the well- being of those in our care, as well as our 64 staff members and, to that end, we will be working carefully to ensure that they are supported and consulted and all residents are found suitable new placements locally and safeguarded throughout the process.

“The home will not close until we have safely undertaken that process.”

The charity currently operates 16 care homes, 15 of those in the South West and the majority of them in Dorset.