Derbyshire County Council announced it would transfer the operation of the care home to Welford Healthcare with contracts exchanged on Tuesday, 8 September. The takeover is expected to be complete by 30 September 2026, subject to CQC (Care Quality Commission) registration.
All current residents will be able to remain at the home along with current care colleagues.
The library is unaffected by the change as it will be leased back to the council at no cost and will continue to be run by the council.
Our cabinet member for adult care Councillor Joss Barnes said he was pleased all the hard work had paid off and had resulted in the deal going through.
“It’s been a long wait for our residents, their families, friends and carers, as well as our staff, and I’m pleased we’ve been able to finalise the negotiations,” he said.
“Welford Healthcare is an established care provider with an excellent reputation and runs many care homes. CQC rates them very highly and I have complete confidence in them continuing to provide excellent care at Ada Belfield.
“The health and wellbeing of our residents and their families is our top priority and I’d like to thank them for their patience, including our colleagues who have continued to work hard to support our residents throughout. I’d like to personally thank everyone for their ongoing hard work and commitment.”
Ada Belfield was offered for lease as a going concern following Cabinet’s decision to remodel our in-house care services.
We pledged to only consider providers with a good track record and whose homes were all rated good or outstanding by the CQC.
Welford Healthcare, which is to take over the running of the home on Derwent Street, is a privately owned care home provider, operating 48 services across England providing care and support to more than 2,000 people.
Councillor Barnes added:
“Helping Derbyshire residents retain their independence is at the heart of the transformation of our in-house care services and Ada Belfield is a part of that transformation.
“By remodelling our care services we’re able to support even more people to come out of hospital when they’re ready and help support the growing number of people with dementia and their carers by offering wraparound specialist dementia care.
“We’ve done this by working closely in partnership with our NHS colleagues at the Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust to create more community support beds to help with hospital discharge.
“We’ve also refocused our in-house services on specialist dementia care which means we can help more people to remain at home and live independent lives which is something carers tell us they want.
“The changes we’ve made are helping us create a sustainable care service for the future, able to help those who need us most.”
Councillor Barnes said there’d been a decline in demand for traditional residential care as many residents prefer to live at home and in their communities for as long as they can. By the time many go into care, they often need higher levels of care, such as nursing care, which we are not legally allowed to provide.