WHILE a meeting called to discuss the future of the Aperee Nursing Home (formerly Deerpark) in Bantry was ‘calm’, there were a lot of very worried families present, according to a local TD.
Deputy Michael Collins (Ind Ire) called the meeting at the nearby Westlodge Hotel last Monday night, along with Cllrs Danny Collins and Patrick Gerard Murphy, to get clarity on the situation at the nursing home, which had a receiver appointed last week.
‘All present were very strong in their support to have us public representatives who attended do all we can to save the nursing home for the people of Bantry and its surrounds and not let this turn into another Belgooly,’ said Deputy Collins, referring to the former Aperee site near Kinsale which closed last October.
In November it was announced that Aperee Living was bought by a consortium of Irish investors, led by former chief executive, Paul Kingston. The sale included the closed nursing home in Belgooly, Bantry nursing home, a site in Rochestown, a partially completed site in Glanmire, and premises in Kilkenny and Waterford.
The Bantry nursing home will continue as normal and will be sold as a ‘going concern’, with no plans to close, the receiver confirmed last Thursday evening.
The nursing home currently has 35 residents and it is understood the Bantry operation of Aperee is profitable, and there are no plans to close.
Receiver Gerard Murphy told The Southern Star that it is now on the market.
‘The nursing home will continue day-to-day as normal for staff and residents and there will be no change to personnel or to the residents’ situation there,’ he said.
‘There are no plans for closure. There are plans to upgrade the home and those plans will continue.’
Local Fianna Fáil Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy met with the receiver on Thursday and while receivership is a serious concern, he said, there are ‘no imminent plans for closure’.
Hopes are high a buyer will be found, but Cork South West Independent Ireland TD Michael Collins warned that if one is not forthcoming, and the nursing home closed, it would be ‘a huge blow to Bantry’.
‘We don’t want what happened to the residents at Belgooly, which closed late last year under the same consortium, to happen here,’ he added. ‘Those vulnerable people were left scrambling to find alternative accommodation.’
He said if a buyer is not found within 18 months, he believes there is no onus on the owners to sell the property as a nursing home, so the pressure is on to close a deal within that timeframe.
