The Salvation Army today announced it will be offloading its care homes as it transitions from providing residential care for older people to grow its community-based support model.

The organisation said that shifting focus from residential settings to community-based support will help reach deeper into communities and support more people who are isolated and vulnerable, particularly older people living in poverty. 

The church and charity currently run 11 residential care homes across the UK and already has a large network of community support for older people.

Work is under way to explore transferring six care homes to alternative providers and there has already been industry interest. However, a formal consultation is due to begin on the possible closure of the remaining care homes. These are: Davidson House and Eagle Lodge in Edinburgh; Holt House in Manchester; The Hawthorns in Buxton and Dewdown House in Weston Super Mare.

The Salvation Army’s director of old peoples services Glenda Roberts said: “Our residential care homes are places of great love and care, but they do not have the specialised clinical expertise required by an ageing population who are increasingly developing more complex conditions. Our buildings would also require significant modernisation.

“Salvation Army Corps – community churches – already support thousands of older people every week and building on this community work will mean we can reach even deeper into communities to support many more vulnerable older people.

“Taking action now will allow us to reach more people in the future but we know how difficult residents and our staff will find this news. Our immediate focus is on our current residents, their loved ones and of course our staff while we make this change.

“We are doing everything we can to support all those affected by this process and have set up a dedicated team to provide support. There will be a formal consultation period with our care home staff who have worked hard to ensure our residents are always surrounded by love, friendship and support.

“Following the consultation, if a home does close, our focus will be to settle every single resident into new accommodation with the support of our partners. Community chaplains will also continue to work with residents to ensure a consistency of pastoral support.

“There have been a number of societal changes over the last few years which make it increasingly difficult for our model of residential care to maintain the high standards our residents need.

 “The biggest challenge is an ageing society. Residents are joining us later in life which means they often have more complex needs. It would take many millions to change our staffing, governance and expertise to be able to offer the specialised nursing required and to adapt our buildings. 

“Other care home providers are better placed to meet the complex and changing clinical needs of older people. Indeed, some have expressed an interest in continuing the work we have started with our residential older people care homes.

“Every week, around 3,500 older people attend Salvation Army community activities ranging from lunch clubs to specialist dementia services and our plan is to substantially increase that vital support. By building on our community foundation, we can reach deeper into communities and support more vulnerable older people.”