Councillors back plan for new north-east Fife care village
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The new £9.8 million Cupar care village will comprise a 24-bed care home, 12 supported living flats for independent living, a 10-place day service facility and community support accommodation, to be built on the site of the Dalgairn Centre on the town's Bank Street.
It will act as a replacement for the town's ageing Northeden House care home.
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Hide AdCouncillors had aired concerns over the move towards the multi-purpose facility, recommended after experts concluded that the original plan for a single 36-bed care home would not be possible on the hillside land.
The reframing of the project as part-care, part-housing also means £3.2m of costs can be siphoned off to Fife's housing budget, with the remaining £6.6m used for the care home.
Councillors put the brakes on approving the bid in January after a report erroneously claimed they had been consulted - when no such discussions had taken place.
Last-minute briefings were arranged late last month to ensure the plans could be passed today by Fife's Policy and Co-ordination Committee.
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Hide AdFiona McKay, divisional general manager at Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, backed the plans for a facility that was part care-home, part independent living estate, saying it was supported by experts and regulators.
She said: "I recognise this a new model and there will be a lot of questions. The Care Inspectorate has been fully involved - when we get into a position that we've got planning permission we will be having further discussions with it to look at the models of care."
However, councillors quizzed Ms McKay on a drop in the number of respite care beds at the facility from eight to four, with one of the supported living flats earmarked as a fifth.
These beds take care of an individual for a short period of time to allow their otherwise full-time carers a break from their duties. Northeden's eight beds were requested by 129 respite carers in 2019.
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Hide AdLib Dem councillors Donald Lothian and Tim Brett expressed concerns that a carer's ability to take a break could be impaired by the drop - but Ms McKay says plans could be in the works to allow them to take breaks without sending their wards to a specialised facility.
Ms McKay replied: "We will reduce the number of respite beds to probably five. We really are at a crossroads at the moment with Covid and people wanting to look at different models of respite.
"We need to recognise that this isn't just about the carers - it's about the needs and wants of the people who are requiring the respite and we need to talk to them about what they see as the most appropriate for them.
"This will be a whole system of looking at how we develop our respite services - it could be people staying at home and having wraparound care to allow carers to go on holiday. We need to look at the needs of the person (being cared for) as well as the carer."