The parents of people with complex needs who rely on a “lifeline” service in Bath have been “kept in the dark” over its future, one mother has warned.
Newton House on Tanners Walk in Twerton, Bath
Wendy Lucas’ daughter Rhiannon is 28 and needs a constant high level of care. Ms Lucas only gets a full night’s sleep twice a week when Rhiannon stays at Newton House, a respite care service on the edge of the city.
It is the only place in the area which offers short stays for people with severe care needs, allowing their full-time carers to have a short break.
Rhiannon has attended Newton House for ten years, but in December, Bath & North East Somerset Council and care provider Dimensions, which runs the service, said it was “unviable” and would be shut down at the end of January.
After parents fought back and almost three thousand people signed a petition, its closure was delayed and families have been told it will stay open all year.
Ms Lucas told a council scrutiny panel on 10th March: “We are now in March and in reality if Newton House is not going to be there after January 2026 we need a solution by September 2025, if our children are to transfer to new providers in a sensible and safe manner.
“However, make no mistake, the parents’ preferred solution is to continue with Newton House.”
Wendy Lucas addressed the children, adults, health, and wellbeing scrutiny panel | Photo © John Wimperis
She added: “I continue to be exasperated by politicians at all levels who refuse to recognise our voice and talk over our needs. I understand that costs and budgets are important; Newton House is expensive.
“But I challenge each and every one of you to do what we do as parents each and every day.
“As a family we have not had a holiday in 10 years. My husband will be 60 this year. When we buckle, who will be there to support Rhiannon 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. What will that cost you?”
She said that families had held a “feisty” meeting with Dimensions in February, and she was set to meet with the council’s director of adult social care after the scrutiny panel meeting. But she said there was still no solution.
She said: “As parents, we have been kept in the dark.”
Dimensions is a registered housing association, and is not run by Bath & North East Somerset Council.
But the council is under a statutory duty to assess and provide for people’s care needs, including providing respite care where required. It is the sole customer at Newton House, which is the only respite care service in the area for people with complex care needs.
Bath & North East Somerset Council is carrying out needs assessments for the 22 people who stay at Newton House, but Ms Lucas said: “If they were looking for a magic solution that those 22 assessments would someone how tell them that the children were better and no longer needed respite, I think they’ve realised by now that they are sorely disappointed.
“If anything, the needs of the parents have grown and as the children have got older, our abilities to continue doing what we are doing for much longer is getting limited.”
She added: “Neither are there 22 places available in full time residential care for these complex adults. Even if the council had the money to pay for these 22 places. They just don’t exist.”
Keynsham window cleaner Richard Franklin, whose son also attends Newton House, raised the alarm on Facebook in November after he received a letter telling him the service would end.
Ms Lucas said she would not have known about it if he had not, as her letter did not arrive. Top councillors were also unaware until Mr Franklin shared the news.
The commissioning team at Bath & North East Somerset Council had been told by Dimensions back in January 2024 that they were ending the service — but the message was not passed on to council cabinet member for adult social care Alison Born or to Suzanne Westhead, the director of adult social services.
Ms Westhead said that council policies had now been changed so that this would not happen again.
A council report which went before the councillors on 13th January said that telling parents the home would be closing had been an “error” as alternate provision had not been found for everyone using Newton House.
Parents have warned that moving people to out-of-county respite care would mean long journeys, making care packages impossible and put their children at risk of having care cancelled if it is needed by people from the area.
Mr Franklin’s son Ryan Probert, also 28, has an unbalanced translocation of chromosomes which means he is small, is non-verbal, needs medication and a very high level of care.
Mr Franklin said Newton House was Ryan’s “lifeline”. He said: “We are left to enjoy the free time, something of a bit of a normal life.
“We know Ryan enjoys his time there and away from us having a break is no difference to all our kids going away from their parents and enjoying that free time.”
The council’s children, adults, health, and wellbeing scrutiny panel will meet again to discuss a report over the closure of Newton House on 14th April.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
