As the BBC is reporting today:
An occupation of Durham County Council’s last remaining care home, Newtown House, Stanhope, is underway. The carehome is being occupied by the final remaining resident, Don Robson, who is 83, and his daughter in law, Michelle Robson. The occupation began today at 12pm. And they’re still there.
Michelle Robson said:
“Don and I are occupying Newtown House today because we feel we have been left with no choice and believe the wider public need to know how badly residents and their families have been treated by Durham County Council.
“We have campaigned tirelessly for over a year to stop the council from closing Newtown House and are absolutely appalled by the way the closure decision has been reached.
“We believe the removal of residential care is not only a gross dereliction of Durham County Council’s responsibilities, but also a massive kick in the teeth to the rural community of Weardale.
“Don and the other residents have been abandoned and it’s beyond disgraceful that elderly people are being forced out of their homes with no real alternative in place.
Our action today is not a publicity stunt and has a huge amount of support not only from the local community, but also on a national level, as others are also fighting similar closures.
“We will not allow Don to be treated in this way and ultimately it will mean that we will have to care for Don in our own home. We don’t know how we will manage but we will not put Don through any more distress. It’s unacceptable and he deserves better.
“It’s shameful that the decision makers at Durham County Council have been allowed to get away with this and we hope that our actions today will alert the wider public of the scandal that they have have tried to hide.”
Don Robson, the last remaining resident and former head teacher and employee of Durham County council said:
“The decision to close my home comes down to cost. Durham County councillors don’t care about what happens to me, or the other residents, because they are pocketing at our expense.
“Our lives have been turned upside down, and we have nowhere else to go. Newtown House is my home and I’m happy here. I won’t leave until they force me out.”
Durham People’s Assembly organiser and spokesperson, Paul Simpson said:
“We have campaigned against the council’s decision to close its last five remaining care homes and fully support Don and Michelle’s action today.
Don dedicated much of his working life, as a Head Teacher and employee of Durham County Council, to his local community. It’s a disgrace that he now finds himself being evicted from his home by his former employer, who has a statutory duty to care for Don.
In January 2014, Durham Council Leader, Cllr Simon Henig, stated that the decision to close the five remaining homes was not a ‘done deal’.
However, the evidence of successive closures over the past 14 years proves that this council has been determined to rid itself of all responsibility for providing social care to older people for a long time. This has always been a money saving exercise.
Were it not for the actions of the former leader and late Councillor Albert Nugent, who managed to halt the closure of all the homes between 2006 and 2008, these homes would already have been long gone.
Since 2008 and under the leadership of Councillor Simon Henig this council has driven through the closure program and is now using the excuse of budget cuts to finish the job. The last round of closures was proposed in late 2009 in a behind-closed doors meeting at County Hall well before the election of the coalition government.
Sadly two former residents of Newtown House have already died since they were forced to seek a new home. This is the true and devastating human cost of this council’s actions.”