No reprieve for closure-threatened Edinburgh care home for people with sight loss

Sight Scotland announced last month that Braeside House in Blackford was set to close by April and its 31 blind or partially sighted residents would need to find new places to live.

Families with relatives in the home appealed for a six-month delay in the hope the pandemic would ease enough for them to visit their loved ones in the home and arrange a smooth transition to alternative accommodation. But the charity said that was not possible.

Bill Simon, whose 95-year-old mother is registered blind and has been at Braeside for three years, said: “Sight Scotland say there is nothing they can do, they’re losing money and need to close. People are angry about it all but they feel they're up against a brick wall.

"We had hoped they would reconsider and maybe keep it open for another six months to let the pandemic settle down and we could at least visit our loved ones in the home and also visit new care homes to see if they are going to be suitable.”

He said because of the Covid-19 rules sight-loss residents now faced being taken to a new home and having to stay alone in an unfamiliar room for two weeks.

“If it had been normal times and we were able to go into other homes to look round and vet their suitability and show our loved ones around that would have been much better than what we're faced with now which is find a home within the next 12 weeks and then the people going into it have to be isolated for two weeks in a strange home with no contact for anybody because of the situation.”

Mr Simon said the care his mother received at Braeside had been great. “The staff are super and my mum has actually got better in there than she was three years ago. She has improved in her health and her quality of life because of the care she’s getting and I’m sure others have as well.”

But he pointed to a passage in Sight Scotland’s latest annual report signed off in December which said: “We do not expect the pandemic to have a long term material effect on the finances of the charity.”

Mr Simon said: “That was just two months ago and it contradicts what they're saying about the pandemic having an adverse effect on their resources.”

Sight Scotland spokesman said the announcement about Braeside and another home in Paisley, which is also due to close, had been made “with great sadness” but pointed out the homes had a £1.4 million deficit before the pandemic and it was now forecast to grow to £2m this year.

“As a result, along with other care homes facing similar challenges, we have not been able to delay this process, but we have made clear we would continue to provide care for residents at the homes until alternative arrangements have been made for them.

"We have been working closely with the Edinburgh Health and Social Care partnership to identify new homes for residents, and are pleased that a significant number of residents are already in the process of moving to new homes."

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