Consultation closed: Wednesday 2 October 2019
Consultation started: Friday 5 July 2019
About this consultation
We consulted on the future of Ferndale older persons' home. Having reviewed a number of options for the future of the home, our preferred option is to develop a new care home at Steppingley Road, Flitwick, with sufficient places at that home for anyone at Ferndale who wishes to go there, and then to close Ferndale.
View the consultation document
Read the detailed options considered for Ferndale (recommended).
Alternatively, you can read the summary/overview of options.
Background information
We want the best possible quality of life for all of our residents and are committed to developing and improving accommodation with care for older people.
We own and operate a number of care homes, including Ferndale older persons' home in Flitwick, that were built several decades ago and no longer meet the expectations of customers and regulators in terms of facilities and accommodation.
We're in the middle of a seven-year programme to replace the capacity in the seven older persons' homes inherited from Bedfordshire County Council in 2009. Three homes have already been provided for, and new care home operators were identified to provide new places for our customers in new homes they were building.
We've been investigating options and opportunities in the Flitwick area and have secured a site in Steppingley Road which would be suitable for a new care home.
We're therefore consulting on the future of Ferndale older persons’ home. The preferred option is that we design and construct a new care home at the Steppingley Road site, with sufficient places at that home for anyone at Ferndale who wishes to go there. We would then discuss options with the residents, which would include a place in the new care home or an alternative care home if that was more suitable for the resident and met our criteria. Finally, residents would be helped to relocate to their new home and Ferndale would be closed.
If this option is agreed, it would take a minimum of three years to implement, during which time it is intended that Ferndale would remain open.
The people who are most directly affected by the proposal are the people who live at Ferndale, their relatives and the staff who work there. For these groups, we will organise meetings and events to enable everyone who wants, to participate in the consultation.