Four Seasons Health Care, one of the country’s biggest heath care organisations, has gone into administration. The company, which has been struggling to tackle massive debt, says the move would not affect care arrangements or lead to the closure of homes.
Four Seasons employs around 20,000 staff who support approximately 17,000 patients and care home residents. It runs three care homes in Edinburgh: Gilmerton (above), North Merchiston and Guthrie House.
Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs MSP said: “Residents in the five Edinburgh care homes and their families will be very concerned about Four Seasons going into administration and what this presents for the future provision of the care homes.
“This is yet another example of the care crisis engulfing Edinburgh. We need to see urgent steps taken to stabilise the situation and support find a future for the company.
“It is crucial that the Scottish Government ensures operations at these care homes continue.”
Responding to the announcement, GMB Scotland Senior Organiser Drew Duffy said: “This is yet another case in point of the crisis in our care sector.
“Our immediate priority is the safeguard of our members’ jobs and conditions across Four Seasons homes in Scotland and to help tackle any uncertainty for an estimated 1,800 service users and their families.
“That’s why we have asked for an urgent meeting with the Scottish Government and COSLA representatives. We will also continue to work with our union across the rest of the UK and in our engagements with the employer, administrators and the UK Government.
“Four Seasons is just the tip of the iceberg and there is a far wider debate that needs to be had about the sustainability of our care sector in its present form.
“Let’s be clear that the public purse is largely funding these failing providers and the financiers behind them, while the rights of workers at the coal face, mainly low paid women, are constantly under attack. This is a toxic mix for staff and service users alike.
“If we leave this unchallenged then we will only continue to revisit the problems we are facing today in Four Seasons elsewhere in the sector. This must stop and the sector must change.”
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