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Gateshead Council hits back at secret dossier claims.

Gateshead Council have hit back at claims published in the Daily Mail that concerns had already been raised three years ago about the Southern Cross care home group.

According to the newspaper, officials drew up a secret dossier in 2008 about the problems occurring in several of the 106 Southern Cross homes in the North East.

The Mail reports that the dossier emerged after Southern Cross, landlords, banks and government officials attempted to strike up a bail out plan for the company.

Gateshead Council was keen to stress their commitment to ensuring the best quality service to residents. They also highlighted their monitoring procedures, which involved making regular checks on standards of care through regular and unannounced visits to homes.

Kate Israel, head of safe stronger communities for Gateshead Council, says: “Whenever someone raises a concern with us, whether from a service user, a member of staff or a relative, we always carry out an investigation and then take appropriate action. This can include suspending admissions to residential care homes, issuing an action plan for improvement or issuing them with a warning.”

However, John Dance from Vertem Asset management believes that these problems with standards of care could have been recognised earlier by the authorities. He said:

“The authorities should have been able to see that there were problems at a financial level back in 2008, and that ultimately this would adversely affect care provisions and the long term future of the group.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .