A Knaresborough care home has been granted planning permission to expand.
Thistle Hill Care Home will be able to provide more accommodation for younger people with physical disabilities and acquired brain injuries.
Barchester Healthcare, which owns the home on Thistle Hill, applied to North Yorkshire Council to create single storey extensions to the front and rear of the existing building, a roof terrace and four car parking spaces.
The home provides 24-hour nursing and specialist dementia care, and also operates the Farnham Unit, which offers specialist care for younger people with physical disabilities and acquired brain injuries.
According to a design and access statement by Harris Irwin Architects in support of the application, the scheme will provide eight additional en-suite bedrooms for these younger people.
The statement said:
“The 20-bed Farnham Unit is in high demand and always runs at full capacity. Potential permanent and respite admissions are routinely turned away due to lack of available beds.
“The home operates a waiting list for both private and respite admissions due to lack of capacity and has had to cease regular respite return stays due to full occupancy with permanent residents.”
It added:
“There is high demand locally for services that support younger adults with physical disabilities and/or acquired brain injuries. There are currently insufficient numbers of specialist beds that cater for both these needs locally. This insufficient local provision is leading to such cohorts being placed out of area, which is an undesirable outcome for all concerned.”
The home is situated 1.2 miles from Knaresborough town centre on Green Belt land.
Aimée McKenzie, the case officer at the council, said in the decision notice report:
“From a visual prospective the additions will be minimal. The scheme is an extension to an existing site, which is sustainable as it ensures its continued use.
“It is considered based on the need presented for this site specifically and local community benefit of continued specialist support; on balance and the cumulative benefits, there is justification for the expansion of this care home in this location. It is considered the proposal in principle does accord with local and national planning polices.
“On the basis of the above the development proposed is considered on balance to be acceptable in principle and would not create harm in relation to design, amenity, highway safety, impact to the green belt and protected landscape.”
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Knaresborough care home nurse suspended for lying about patient’s care
A woman working at a Knaresborough care home has been suspended from nursing for 12 months after lying to colleagues, police and at an inquest about the care of one of her patients.
Susan Nyakwangwa was caring for the patient at Thistle Hill Care Home in Knaresborough on February 26, 2016 when the patient’s health deteriorated, they were later admitted to hospital with pneumonia and died two days later.
Ms Nyakwngwa went before the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) last week in a fitness to practise hearing, suspected of misconduct.
The hearing was told that she had failed to manage the patient’s deterioration appropriately, particularly over the time it took to contact Beech House GP Surgery.
Ms Nyakwangwa told two colleagues she had telephoned the surgery before 1pm, but at the hearing it was found she had not.
During an investigation for criminal neglect, which the police later dropped, in September 2016 Ms Nyakwangwa told officers she had called the surgery between 11am and before lunch.
She repeated this whilst giving oral evidence under oath at the Inquest into the death of the patient.
But it was found that Ms Nyakwangwa did not call the GP surgery until later in the afternoon, the first outgoing call to the practice was made at 14:04pm.
The panel found the registered nurse, with a 42-year career, to be dishonest and said her actions “fell far below the standards expected of a registered nurse”.
The hearing report spoke of case presenter, Alastair Kennedy:
“Mr Kennedy submitted that there is nothing to suggest that you appreciate the affect your actions had on the public, colleagues and the trust placed in the nursing profession.
“Mr Kennedy invited the panel to find that your fitness to practise as a registered nurse is currently impaired.”
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Ms Nyakwangwa was represented by Briony Molyneux who argued it had been a “single act of dishonesty” and the “only blip” in a long-standing nursing career.
She added:
“No harm was caused to Patient A as a result of your dishonest conduct, your actions were not pre-meditated and there was no sophisticated attempt to cover up your dishonesty.”
A statement from Thistle Hill said:
“At Thistle Hill care home the safety and wellbeing of our residents is of the utmost importance. The case in 2016 was an isolated incident involving a temporary member of staff and we took all immediate and appropriate action. We fully respect the decision made by the NMC and offer no further comment at this time.”
Ms Nyakwangwa has not worked recently due to personal health reasons.
The suspension period comes begins this month, at the end of the 12 months another panel will review the order.