Residents at a Radcliffe extra care facility fear “someone will die” after night carer roles were axed earlier this year. The move was part of planned cuts after a four-week pilot scheme took place last year. Residents have since expressed their concerns about the impact of this on vulnerable people at Red Bank, an extra care apartment complex on Lowe Road, which is operated by Bury Council.
Similar cuts were made at Falcon and Griffin, another care facility in Bury which is managed by the council. The move affected residents in more than 100 apartments across the two locations when it was implemented in February. Loraine Woodall has lived at Red Bank since 2021 and has Parkinson's disease, which causes tremors, muscle stiffness and impacts her mobility.
When she first moved into the facility, she was offered 24/7 support from in-house carers who were on hand to respond to any emergencies. But earlier this year, the night time in-house support was cut entirely and replaced by a response service "hub" based at another extra care facility, Peachment Place in Bury, on behalf of the council. After a recent fall, she said: “I’m worried that someone will die if nothing is done.
“I’m usually quite independent and have all my faculties but there are some very vulnerable people in here who desperately need overnight support. “We’ve [other residents] raised concerns, but nothing is being done. When I first moved in three years ago, there was a good community here and we.