Families' joy centre saved as respite from closure

PARENTS of the Bath area's most vulnerable young people are “overjoyed” that a lifeline respite care home is set to be saved from closure.

- JOHN WIMPERIS Local Democracy Reporter

Newton House, on the edge of the city, is the only respite care home in Bath and North East Somerset which offers young people with the most severe care needs short stays away from their full-time carers. For parents of children who, even into adulthood, require a near constant level of care, the service is a “lifeline.”

But at the end of 2024 they were told it would have to close as it had become “unaffordable.” The current arrangement had been set to end in October.

Now, after a year of campaigning, families have been told that the council is negotiating a contract for the service for another five years.

It was on January 13 a year to the day that four Newton House parents came to the council to share their stories and urge it to keep Newton House open that they were invited to a meeting to be told the news.

Richard and Julie Franklin’s son Ryan who has a condition which means he is small, is nonverbal, and needs medication and a very high level of care regularly stays at Newton House, where his parents say they know they can trust the team and do not have to worry about him. Speaking after the meeting, Mr Franklin said: “It’s just a big relief. When I got home with Julie the pair of us just cried together.”