THAMESBROOK NURSING HOME UNDER THREAT

THAMESBROOK TO CLOSE

The Dame will always support those unable to fight their own battles. After the disaster that was Chelsea Care it would appear that the next casualty is Thamesbrook Nursing Home... 

A Resident writes...

Dear Dame,

I enjoy your comments and willingness to hold some of the council members to account for their gross mismanagment of the borough. The cuts in social services over the years have not been the worst while money has been wasted elsewhere however, I believe that is about to change though nothing has yet been made public.The council owns and operates Thamesbrook, a nursing home for older people in Dovehouse Street, SW3. For many years it was the most highly regarded facility and places were much sought after by the most frail residents of the borough. Under the leadership of an excellent manager, the home had an excellent reputation which I know as my own mother was there, was totally deserved. 

For whatever reason, that manager left almost four years ago, perhaps he was fed up with the rotten politics as he was certainly no fool. Since then there has been one hopeless manager appointed after another, none of who have showed any committment or resolve and the home has lost its good reputation. Instead of tackling this properly and seeking out an appropriate manager the solution, though not yet publicised has become to close the home. A manager has been appointed now who has a track record of exactly that and she was the person who closed the only other home the council operated, Edenham in Elkstone Road some years ago. The excuse at that time was that it did not meet current standards, it did but the publicity was that it did not. There can be no similar excuse about Thamesbrook, it exceeds all current standards by a significant margin and has done for many years. Without the excuse of the building meeting standards, it seems an obvious ploy that the only other thing that could fail would be the care and the appointment of numerous people at manager level and above who are not competant to do the job would suggest that this is a ploy by the awful Stella Baillie. If she wanted the home to succeed, there must be someone out there who could manage it, after all, there are many good nursing homes around. I object to the use of consultants by the council but if they haven't, perhaps they should ask the former manager to be involved in the recruitment process, I doubt they have. The other excuse is that it costs a lot of money to run, if it does, so be it. While the councillors have money to waste on daft projects there should be no further cuts in social services particularly for the most vulnerable people. It should not happen in a civilised society. My point behind all this is that the frailest people the council provides a service for live at Thamesbrook, they don't have loud voices and indeed many are bed bound so they aren't going to be able to campaign in their own right. 

Would you be able to draw attention to their plight please?

Best wishes, 
xxxxxxx