Work starts on new Davers Court care home and wellbeing centre

Home news

Sep 11, 2013

Councillor Jenny Antill, Assistant Portfolio Holder for Health and Adult Social Care at Suffolk County Council, has helped Care UK mark the start of building work for our new Davers Court care home on Shakers Lane in Bury St Edmunds. She was joined at the photo call by Care UK’s Regional Operations Director, Chris Hopkinson (left) and Chris Dodsworth, Construction Manager for Castleoak, our construction partner.

The new home will accommodate 60 residents and will provide nursing as well as residential care. The adjacent wellbeing centre will be a new day care service for the community, offering fun and informal day clubs, activities and other services shaped to the local community’s needs. They are scheduled to open in September 2014.

The brand new home and wellbeing centre will replace the former Davers Court care home, where residents and their families were closely consulted about their choices. Support was provided to realise their choices during May and June with some residents choosing to move to Glastonbury Court in Bury St Edmunds.

The plans for the new Davers Court were well received at a community consultation event held at Moreton Hall Community Centre on 4^th October 2012 and a further consultation was held with the Bury Society, who gave its support. St Edmundsbury Borough Council Development Control Committee gave the green light on 7^th March 2013.

The new Davers Court is part of our £60 million investment plan in ten new care homes and ten wellbeing centres, bringing much needed additional nursing and specialist dementia care to the Suffolk community. Planning approval has now been granted for seven of the ten new care homes and wellbeing centres and work has begun on four.

Care UK was selected by Suffolk County Council in April 2012 to help fulfill its vision for older people’s care and by 2015 the new homes and wellbeing centres will replace the Council’s former homes and wellbeing centres, which date mainly from the 1960s and 1970s.

Castleoak, our construction partner, is a highly regarded company that works exclusively in the care sector.

New home features

The new home will offer the highest quality care and living standards and will include:

• Spacious bedrooms with en-suite facilities designed for safety and accessibility
• 24-hour nursing care provision
• Generous living areas
• A cinema, hairdressing salon and café
• Dedicated activities co-ordinator
• Landscaped gardens with a variety of areas

Wellbeing Centre features

Care UK is at the forefront of developing a new concept in day care. Known as wellbeing centres, these offer a range of facilities and opportunities for older people who live in their own homes in the local neighbourhood.

Care UK hopes that local people will help them to shape these services, which could include:

• Being open seven days per week
• A pay-by-the hour service - use as little or as often as you like
• Specialist care, including services for those with dementia and other progressive illnesses
• Activity-led, tailored for each individual’s interests, needs and wishes
• Expert health services including a GP clinic and specialist therapy treatments
• State-of-the art facilities including assisted bathing