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| Handling of care home closures 'disastrous', says health minister | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The way the potential closure of NHS residential homes in NI has been handled has been "disastrous", the health minister has said. | The way the potential closure of NHS residential homes in NI has been handled has been "disastrous", the health minister has said. |
| Edwin Poots was speaking as the western trust revealed it planned to close its four homes. | |
| The southern and the northern trusts have already announced the potential closure of all their homes. | The southern and the northern trusts have already announced the potential closure of all their homes. |
| Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness criticised the anxiety the plans had caused to elderly residents. | |
| 'Sensible policy' | |
| Mr McGuinness and the first minister, Peter Robinson, re-stated their backing for the policy of caring for older people in their own homes but they hit out at the trusts. | |
| "Unfortunately, we have seen fear and anxiety on our television screens over the last few days and that is unacceptable," said Mr McGuinness. | |
| "I think it is incumbent on the department to get a grip on what is happening within the trust and make it clear that this is going to be dealt with in a very sensitive way to ensure that we meet the needs of our older generation." | |
| Mr Robinson said moving around was "not the kind of thing you want to be doing at any stage of your life least of all when you are in your 80s or your 90s". | |
| "That has to be handled very carefully and very sensibly," he said. | |
| "I think the policy, which was to approximately reduce by half the number of care homes over the next five years, was a sensible enough policy. | |
| "I'm not quite sure how any trust can justify the closure of their homes and I think they need to seriously look at that again." | |
| Apology | |
| In an interview with the BBC, Mr Poots said: "I would be very surprised if all of the homes in all of the trusts closed." | |
| He added: "The handling of this has been disastrous and I accept that. I'm very disappointed in the way this has been managed. | |
| "I want to apologise to those elderly people who have been distressed as a result of this." | |
| The proposals for the western trust were discussed at a public meeting of the trust's board on Thursday. | The proposals for the western trust were discussed at a public meeting of the trust's board on Thursday. |
| The homes affected in the western trust are Rectory Field and William Street homes in Londonderry, Greenfield in Strabane and Thackeray Place in Limavady. | |
| On Wednesday night, officials from the trust briefed residents and their families at two of the homes - William Street and Greenfield. | On Wednesday night, officials from the trust briefed residents and their families at two of the homes - William Street and Greenfield. |