FEARS have been expressed over the future of a care home ahead of a crucial meeting on dementia services tomorrow (Thursday).

Hollins View, on Clarke Terrace, Macclesfield, currently offers 40 beds as respite and intermediary care for dementia sufferers and vulnerable adults.

Currently run by Cheshire East Council, it gives carers a break by taking on dementia patients for respite care.

It also looks after patients for a short period after they are discharged from hospital.

But under the council’s proposals to privatise dementia care, agreed by the council’s cabinet on July 1, those services provided by Hollins View and two similar facilities in Congleton and Crewe could be affected.

The decision was ‘called in’ by six councillors including Macclesfield’s Laura Jeuda and Janet Jackson.

It will be debated at the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee at the council’s offices in Sandbach tomorrow at 2pm. Jean Bennett and her 95-year-old father benefit from the facility. She said: “The service is excellent and allows me to take a break while giving me piece of mind that dad is getting great care. It’s a grave concern that its future is uncertain. Dad loves it there.”

Before any decision is made the council says it will hold a consultation with users and carers at the home.

David Rutley, MP for Macclesfield, has pledged to discuss the proposals with the council.

He said: “Dementia respite services will be increasingly important service in the years ahead. A more integrated approach involving social service, NHS and voluntary sector needs to be established to better respond to the challenge. However, I will be speaking to Cheshire East Council to ensured the needs of the existing service users at Hollins View and their carers are fully addressed in the weeks ahead.”

Coun Laura Jeuda, who speaks for the labour group on health matters, said the home is a vital service.

She said: “Carers value the service at Hollins View and rely heavily on this facility; not least because they have confidence in the care their loved ones receive there.

“If this service was withdrawn it would cause severe hardship for the carers and those they care for.

“The private sector, as many reports have shown over recent years, does not always mean ‘best’ or ‘better’.”