Rooke Elderly Care Home will cut running costs by 25%, says GHA Director General

The GHA Director General says the new Rooke Elderly Care Home is expected to reduce ERS running costs by up to 25%.

Speaking to GBC at yesterday's media tour, Dr Paul Bosio said this was because the GHA was consolidating the service into one building.

He said the decision to acquire the home was made after an options appraisal and would allow the GHA to take elderly care to another level.

It was the GHA Director General, at the request of the Health Minister, who carried out an in-depth analysis of whether the Rooke Residential Care Home should be privately run or fall under the Health Service umbrella.

Dr Paul Bosio said he had a number of concerns about private ownership, including the existing 310 ERS staff, the fact that private care wouldn't be significantly cheaper, and the resilience of the service.

The process of identifying which of the 129 patients at Mount Alvernia want to move over will now begin, although, according to the Health Minister, indications are that the vast majority of residents are happy to move. Alternative arrangements will be sought for those who choose not to, but Gemma Arias-Vasquez stressed that the two homes would not operate at the same time.

The fate of Mount Alvernia is as yet unknown, with a meeting scheduled to be held with its owners, the John Mackintosh Trust, in the coming weeks.

Together with around 85 patients from St Bernard's Hospital, it means the new Rooke Home will be mostly full once everyone moves in.

An occupied bed is expected to cost the GHA £90,000 per year, which, according to Dr Bosio, is slightly higher than in private care due to the complex needs of some of the patients. However, the GHA believes there will be a reduction in the overall cost of elderly care.

Moving 310 staff and just over 200 patients into the new home is expected be a huge undertaking but they are confident the it can be completed by the end of the year.