Houghton Hall set to reopen

4:50pm Wednesday 20th August 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

FORMER care home Houghton Hall is to reopen in September under the care of Warrington Hospital.

The nursing home closed last summer as bosses could no longer afford to run it.

It was bought by Warrington Borough Council which is letting the hospital use it for intermediate care.

It will open in phases, PCT bosses were told at a board meeting earlier this month.

The ground floor will open first, followed by the first floor and then extra care provisions.

It will be fully open by the end of September and will house 39 beds.

“It will be used by people who are medically fit but not quite ready to go home yet,” said Louise Meikle, the matron for Houghton Hall.

Thirty-five beds will be for step down care for patients who no longer need acute care at Warrington Hospital but require high quality therapy and rehabilitation before going home or into community care.

The four remaining beds will be used for step up care. GPs can send in patients from the community who need extra support managing their condition.

“Going into Houghton Hall means they can avoid having to go into hospital,” said Ms Meikle.

“You can send people straight home from hospital but because they haven’t had the time to get used to new equipment, like a wheelchair, they may go home without the confidence they need and may go back to having another fall.”

“Then they end up back in hospital again which we want to avoid,” she said.