A teenager has stepped up the campaign to push back the closure date for a threatened dementia care home.

Nursing care for patients at Abbey Place Dementia Care Home in Abbey Road, Fartown, is due to end on November 28.

But relatives of the 33 residents affected – all with severe dementia – say the month’s notice they received wasn’t enough to find alternative accommodation for their loved ones.

Relatives have already spoken out over the lack of specialist Elderly Mental Infirm (EMI) nursing beds in Kirklees and Calderdale.

Relatives met on Sunday to form an action group and one of them, Gemma Hannam, 19, of Lockwood, has set up a Facebook group to keep up the pressure.

In just 24 hours almost 40 people joined the group called Fairness of Residents and Families Affected by the Closure of EMI Unit.

Gemma, whose grandfather Clive, 71, lives at Abbey Place, said: “It’s not right that the home is closing but it’s even worse when they have given us just a month’s notice.

Clive Hannam, a resident at Abbey Place Dementia Care Home in Fartown, with wife Joan
Clive Hannam, a resident at Abbey Place Dementia Care Home in Fartown, with wife Joan

“There just aren’t enough beds in Kirklees and we want the closure putting back until after Christmas. We need more time.”

Gemma said Alzheimer’s patients like her grandfather took time to settle into new surroundings and he had only been there since March.

Relatives received letters from Orchard Care Homes, which runs Abbey Place, inviting them to a meeting where the bombshell closure decision was announced, with just a month’s notice.

Gemma said her family did not receive a letter and had to be told later by telephone.

“There has been a lack of communication and we never got to attend that meeting,” she said.

The group also wants to represent those patients who have no family and can’t speak for themselves.

“If we don’t speak for them who will?” she asked.

Kirklees Council has said it will work with families to help them find alternative homes.