Boss of Wakefield care home The Glynn saddened by venue's closure after 38 years in charge

The home, located on Bradford Road in Wrenthorpe, has closed down.

Sharon Blick, who ran The Glynn Residential Home in Wakefield, said the increasingly demanding nature of the job had become a "physical and mental drain".

The home's 16 residents have all been moved out to other venues this month, after Ms Blick decided to close The Glynn down in November, one month before a fatal Covid outbreak hit the service.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) placed the home in special measures last year.

Ms Blick said the regulator had then issued the home with a closure notice before Christmas, but that she had already made the call herself.

The seven remaining staff at the home have been paid their redundancy notices in full, with all but two having already secured new jobs.

Ms Blick said: "We've said 'bye-bye' to our last client. It's a very, very sad day and it's the end of an era.

"My staff have been absolutely amazing.

"Over the last two years, I've had three hip operations and I think I've just been beaten.

"Covid certainly didn't help. We kept it at bay for nine months but then we lost some very dear friends - one lady who'd lived with us for 21 years and a gentleman who'd lived with us for 15 years.

"It's been very traumatic. Last year has been tremendously bad and I can't see this year being any better.

"But I took the decision in November and gave plenty of notice because I wanted the residents here to be moved out tastefully and in good time."

Ms Blick said the task of running a home had changed considerably over the last four decades and suggested that more emphasis is now placed on administration than actual care.

The CQC's findings last year rated the home inadequate on two of the five criteria used to judge services. On another two, the home was judged to be 'good' and the fifth was rated 'requires improvement'.

However its overall rating was deemed to be inadequate, with a report claiming the home was "not safe" and "not well-led".

Ms Blick suggested that more homes may close because of the rising demands on managers.

She explained: "It's so intense now.

"You've got to be an environmental health officer, you've got to be an infection control officer. You've got to be 100 different people.

"I've been involved with this home for more than half my lifetime.

"I can't sit here and be accused of not caring for people properly because that hasn't happened here.

"The CQC make you sit there and feel you've done something wrong.

"It's been really demoralising for all of my staff. Some of them have been with me for so many years. They wouldn't stay here if it was so dreadful and bad.

"We did have planning permission to consolidate into a smaller home, which we felt more than able to do but it's just so complex now."

Ms Blick also asked to place on record her thanks to Wakefield Council, who she said had been "extremely supportive" in recent months.

Local Democracy Reporting Service