A RESIDENTIAL home in Worcester is to reduce the number of beds for respite care so it can cater for more older people who will not be kept in Worcestershire Royal Hospital in the future.

Timberdine Resource Centre is to be redesigned and refurbished to provide 36 beds as a residential and nursing home facility.

We previously reported in your Worcester News how NHS Worcestershire has decided to close the Aconbury ward at Worcestershire Royal Hospital – it will be decommissioned at the beginning of August.

NHS bosses have been in talks with council chiefs and they have decided to send to Timberdine patients recovering from strokes or falls but still in need of 24-hour nursing care including feeding, washing and toileting.

The facility in Timberdine Close provides support for older people so they can be as independent as possible with daily activities such as washing, dressing, meal preparation and mobility.

People who use Timberdine normally stay for up to six weeks before returning home or moving into long-term care.

Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet has agreed to change the way the centre works, which in turn will save about £500,000 from its £1.28 million annual budget.

That will contribute towards County Hall’s mission to cut its costs by about £70 million by the year 2015.

Timberdine provides 18 residential rehabilitation beds, nine respite beds, one sleep-in room for staff, and day care for the frail and those with dementia.

In the future it will provide day care, 29 nursing home beds and seven residential rehabilitation beds. That will come at the expense of 11 residential rehabilitation beds so the council will instead commission replacements from external providers which they say is cheaper than providing it in-house.

At a meeting of cabinet Councillor Mary Drinkwater voiced concern about that but Coun Philip Gretton, member for adult and community services, said: “Our independent care home providers have long been asking ‘Why don’t you give us more respite care?’ and we have no reason to think they can’t provide that good service.”

NHS Worcestershire has said it will pay to refurbish parts of Timberdine as well as the seven residential beds.

A senior nurse will be employed by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to oversee the clinical elements of the service.

A senior social worker employed by the council who will ensure people are effectively assessed and supported to return home.

The centre will have to re-register with the Care Quality Commission.