Bid to get independent review into closure of Avonlea children’s home in Wick fails
A bid to get an independent review into the circumstances surrounding the closure of the Avonlea children's home in Wick has been defeated on the casting vote of the convener of Highland Council, Bill Lobban.
The decision disappointed Caithness councillor, Matthew Reiss, who was also dismayed the local authority rejected a proposal to reinstate overnight respite care at Thor House in Thurso. The service was stopped at the time of the Covid pandemic.
However, he is going to continue to press for a review into Avonlea – a purpose built children's home which opened in 2014 at a cost of £1.2 million and closed in December 2022 after Highland Council was served with an improvement notice by the Care Inspectorate. The council was given two weeks to make “significant improvement in provision of the service” or its registration would be cancelled.
The youngsters who were there have been relocated to Thor House while Avonlea is being used by pupils from Wick High school with additional needs.
“I accept the decision reluctantly but this is not the end of the matter. We will continue to push for an independent review as it would reassure the public and show there is transparency about what is going on,” said the Thurso and Northwest Caithness councillor.
“It ticks so many boxes and would benefit the young people we are supposed to be helping. There is nothing to fear from an independent review but suggesting we have a workshop to think about this and/or bring the matters back to Health and Social Care Committee will just make people think what have they got to hide. A review would restore trust.”
Councillor Reiss added: “My motion was to reinstate overnight respite care at Thor House but the council argued this would cost £530,000 a year as they would need to open a new home. That is crazy as Avonlea is a four-bed unit built to the latest specifications.
“My solution was to reopen respite care at Thor, take the children currently resident there and move them back to Avonlea, which is now being used as an educational facility for Wick High School children with additional needs.
The Thor House motion was defeated by 33 to 29 votes. He described the atmosphere at last week's council meeting as "fairly electric" and claimed the attitude shown was "close to insulting for the families involved, many of whom are with Encompass Caithness and/or Caithness and Sutherland Respite Campaign."
"I would like to see Thor House return to its original role and provide overnight respite care which it did for over three decades, although that has not happened since 2020. The reality for hard-pressed families is that nothing has actually happened," added councillor Reiss who would like council officials to visit Caithness and meet the affected families.
