Reluctant closure of Foxton Grange care home announced

Methodist Homes (MHA) has announced the reluctant closure of MHA Foxton Grange care home in Leicester.

The national charity’s Board of Trustees made the difficult decision to close the 36-place specialist dementia and dementia nursing home for financial reasons, stating its resources could be used more effectively elsewhere to provide care and support for older people.

The decision is not related to Covid-19.

The home on Gypsy Lane in Leicester has lost more than £1.2 million in the past five years, which MHA feels is not sustainable in the future. The charity runs a further 89 care homes along with community-based services and retirement living and is the country’s largest charitable care provider.

The financial issues relate to there being an over-supply of care home places in the area, meaning the home has been under-occupied for a number of years, coupled with the fact local authority fees do not cover all of MHA’s costs. Within a five mile radius of the home, there are 79 homes with 431 care and nursing home beds more than current demand.

At 36 places, MHA Foxton Grange care home is also below the minimum for a specialist dementia and nursing dementia care home to be considered as financially viable.

MHA’s Director of Operations Dan Ryan said: “Closing MHA Foxton Grange is not an easy decision for us to make and we are fully aware of the distress this announcement will have caused our residents and their relatives.

“However, as a charity, we have to make sure we use our resources wisely. While Covid-19 has affected our care homes, it is not the reason behind the sad closure of MHA Foxton Grange.

“We are working closely with our health and social care colleagues to provide support and guidance to residents and their families to help them identify suitable new homes and to make their move go as smoothly as possible.”

Residents will be offered places at suitable MHA care homes, including MHA Aigburth in Oadby. The staff who work full and part time at the home in various roles will be offered posts at other MHA homes if they wish to transfer and suitable roles are available.