We desperately need new lift, says nursing home as plans are lodged

A nursing home on the Fylde coast is planning to build a two storey extension which will include a vital internal lift for residents.

At the moment, staff at The Farthings Nursing Home, off Wilson Square in the Norbreck area, are having to use one small wheel chair lift which is coming to the end of its commercial life and even putting the residents and staff at risk of injury.

The home has lodged a planning application with Blackpool Council for the erection of a two-storey rear extension to provide an internal lift and an external staircase to first floor emergency egress door.

The Farthings Nursing home was purpose-built 30 years ago and has 59 bedrooms on ground (36 beds) and first floor (23 beds) providing complex nursing care to elderly, vulnerable and end-of-life residents.

WHAT THE HOME SAYS

A client’s statement, submitted to council planners as part of the application said: “We work closely with Blackpool Victoria Hospital, local authorities and social workers and 65 percent of our residents are funded by the local authority. We employ 60 staff members from the local area.

“Currently we have one small wheel chair lift which was installed when the home was built. This lift is at the end of its commercial life with parts for repairs difficult to get hold of.

“It is also unreliable and can only accommodates a single wheelchair and one ambulatory person.

“This is highly restrictive for our existing and future residents that require moving via a stretcher between floors.

“In these instances residents have to be carried in an evacuation chair up and down stairs, putting the residents and staff at risk of injury and slowing down transit into an ambulance.

“The new lift will accommodate a full hospital stretcher plus an additional 6 people, allowing capacity for the resident, ambulance paramedics, nursing staff, family members and visitors.

“With a larger lift it allows residents and family members to better access our facilities – gardens, multiple lounges, dining and activity rooms throughout the home, which improves quality of life.”

The nursing home says the new lift will create the full-time equivalent of five permanent jobs at all levels from care staff to nurses because it will be able to provide more complex nursing care to more residents.

The statement adds: “The new lift machinery will have a life span of 40 years with the correct maintenance.

“If a new 60 bed nursing home was being built today it would have a full capacity hospital stretcher lift.”