The number of nursing home places available in Southwark is expected to more than treble by 2020.
Southwark currently has three care homes registered to provide nursing care – Tower Bridge and Queens Oak, which are both rated good by the Care Quality Commission, and Burgess Park, rated inadequate.
However, due to its inadequate rating, the council has not been placing people in Burgess Park, and Queens Oak, which is block-booked by Lambeth Council, has not been accepting Southwark residents.
In a bid to resolve the current lack of good quality nursing home provision, the council plans to develop two nursing homes in the borough to provide more beds.
There are plans to redevelop the mothballed nursing home site in D’Eynsford Road, Camberwell, into a “purpose-built nursing home for the 21st century” with 70 to 80 beds.
A new care provider has also taken over Burgess Park with the intention of remodelling the nursing home to increase capacity, improve standards of care, and modernise facilities.
Planning applications are expected for both of these in the near future.
As a result, a total of 361 nursing home beds are expected to be available by 2020, compared to the 115 beds currently in use.
Councillor Richard Livingstone, cabinet member for adult care and financial inclusion, said: “The strategy that the cabinet agreed will increase the number of nursing home places available to us in the borough from 115 currently to 361 by 2020.
“As a council we are committed to working with the Southwark NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, care providers and other partners to ensure that there are sufficient nursing home places available for Southwark residents.
“With our partners, we want to ensure that our residents have safe, high-quality care in homes that are fit for purpose and reflect industry standards.
“We are currently working with care providers to plan for the future and increase nursing home capacity in the borough.”