Green light for ninth new Suffolk care home

Company news

Dec 24, 2013

A new state-of-the-art care home and wellbeing centre in Eye which will help create a community health village for the town has been granted planning approval by Mid-Suffolk District Council. The development is the ninth of ten new homes to receive approval, which are being built as part of Care UK’s £60 million investment into older people’s care in Suffolk.

Chris Hopkinson, Care UK Regional Operations Director, said: “We are very pleased to get the go ahead to develop the new care home and wellbeing centre in Eye. It is also a huge achievement to have received planning permission for nine out of the ten new care homes and wellbeing centres within a year since the project began in December 2012.

With the numbers of older people aged over 75 with dementia in Suffolk expecting to grow by nearly 100% between now and 2030, we look forward to taking a further step towards addressing the county’s need for more purpose-built facilities for specialist older people’s care.”

Councillor Alan Murray, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Care at Suffolk County Council, said: “This is a fitting way to finish what has been a very productive first year of working with Care UK.  With nine out of the ten new homes now either well under way or scheduled to begin in the near future, our vision of providing Suffolk residents with high quality, purpose built facilities are becoming a reality."

The new development in Eye will be built adjacent to the Hartismere Health and Care Centre on Castleton Way in Eye and will add to the community’s health village. Work on the new care home and wellbeing centre by Care UK’s development partner Castleoak is scheduled to begin in April 2014, with the opening date scheduled for spring 2015.

The design of the new care home, which will accommodate 60 residents, is spacious, light and airy with many communal areas for residents to meet with family, friends and fellow residents. The bedrooms are generously-sized with ensuite shower facilities and to give a homely feel, small groups of residents will share their own dining room and lounge. The new home also has a garden and sitting out areas and attractive facilities including a café, hairdressers and a small cinema.

The wellbeing centre will offer a range of day clubs, activities and specialist care, including services for those with dementia and other progressive illnesses. It is hoped the new facilities will help older people to maintain their independence for longer in their own homes and give valuable respite services for family carers.

Following the opening of the new care home and wellbeing centre, residents of Paddock House care home on Wellington Road in Eye will have the option to move into the new home, after which Paddock House, which opened in 1960, will close. Residents and their families are being closely consulted with about the plans.

On 1st December 2012 Care UK took over Suffolk County Council’s sixteen residential care homes and eight wellbeing centres, welcoming over 500 residents. At the same time over 900 former Suffolk County Council employees transferred to become part of the Care UK team.

By 2016 the new homes and wellbeing centres will have replaced all Suffolk County Council’s former homes and wellbeing centres which date mainly from the 1960s and 1970s. The sites which are no longer needed will be returned to the Council.

For further information visit www.careuk.com/suffolk-new-homes or call 0333 321 0956.