Suspicions that Haringey Council was planning to pull the plug on the redevelopment of the Osborne Grove Nursing Home site in Tollington Way – reported in the Ham&High on November 16, 2023 – were confirmed by a shocking letter issued by the service director of adult social care immediately before Christmas.

Breaking this bad news over the holiday period meant the council leadership avoided public accountability.

For five years we have been hard at work in co-designing an innovative service to meet the needs of Haringey’s increasingly ageing population with complex nursing care needs resulting from dementia and physical frailty. Now we discover that the council has decided to abandon this pioneering project (see: osbornegrovenursinghome.commonplace.is/).

The offer of a one-hour meeting at the end of January to discuss ‘options’ is deeply discourteous.

Following the closure of the old nursing home after council spending cuts in 2018, I joined local campaigners, council and health care officials and other stakeholders in co-designing vital new facilities.

Ham & High: Mary Langan says the council were cynical breaking the bad news about Osborne Grove Nursing Home during the holiday periodMary Langan says the council were cynical breaking the bad news about Osborne Grove Nursing Home during the holiday period (Image: Luke Patrick Dixon Photography)

The plan is for a specialist nursing home, providing for a range of needs, including dementia, physical and learning disabilities and for the many elderly patients trapped in hospital beds. A ‘co-production’ steering group has organised dozens of engagement events, including public meetings – and workshops on plans for a community space café and day centre.

The council’s decision to pull back from Osborne Grove is not just a betrayal of all the families in the borough concerned about the fate of their frail and disabled elderly members. It is also a betrayal of the principles of co-production and of the enormous investment of time and energy – and resources – in this project over the past five years.

There is an urgent need for this provision, with 75% of frail people who need beds placed out of borough far away from their families. The council should look to partnership funding arrangements with the NHs or voluntary sector (as is common elsewhere) to finance the operational costs of nursing care.

I urge readers to contact their local councillors to insist that they honour commitments to the elderly made by the council since 2018.

  • Mary Langan is chair of the Severe and Complex Autism and Learning Disabilities Families Group (SCALD).