Madam,

In response to your article 'Desperate fight to save home for the elderly’, you quite rightly avoid referring to Jasper House as a residential home.

It is probably more accurately described as accommodation within a supportive environment.

In this way, Jasper House is more closely related with the Extra Care Housing model.

It is not obliged to register with the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) and if care of a personal nature is required by any of the residents then application for assessment can be made to social services or purchased privately.

The downside to not being registered is that on threat of closure there is no obligation for the operators, registered charity The Abbeyfield Society, to inform CIW and so the Jasper House residents risk not receiving the assistance provided by the statutory bodies.

The remaining four residents at Jasper House are arguably in a more precarious position than most if there is a closure.

The building would appear to have been subjected to the ‘unholy trinity’ of lack of maintenance, fall-off in application numbers and prohibitive refurbishment costs - factors which appear common to many service closures.

Effectively, should Jasper House close the current four residents will be homeless without the protection of a contract with social services to provide care and no guarantee that they will meet the latest criteria for care and support following assessment.

They face falling through the cracks due to the unique (to Aberystwyth) nature and extent of support offered by Jasper House, having no home in which to receive community based care and the possibility of not meeting the criteria for residential care.

These four people signed up for Jasper House most likely in the belief it would be their home for the foreseeable future only to be given notice to quit with seemingly little regard for what is to happen to them now.

I am certain that the statutory bodies will do what they can, but it is not simple to find resources within such a straightened system and these ladies, who I believe are very close knit, face an uncertain future in unfamiliar surroundings with unfamiliar faces unless the Abbeyfield Society relents.

Yours etc, George Holloway, Rhoshendre, Waunfawr, Aberystwyth.

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