A CARE home in Kidderminster is facing closure as part of a shake-up of social and intermediate health care in Wyre Forest.

The Grange, a council resource centre for older people, in Sutton Park Road, could face the axe next year according to a report put before board members of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which has revealed Worcestershire County Council plans to close it, although councillors insist no decisions have yet been made.

The report said: “The council have indicated the Grange Nursing Home will close in spring, 2015 and patients with social care needs will be managed through different arrangements, designed to keep them at home.”

Health leaders have hinted intermediate and social care currently provided at the Wyre Forest GP Unit and Cookley Ward, at Kidderminster Hospital and The Grange could be merged into a single-site care unit based at the hospital.

The nursing home has room for 35 residents and provides a rehabilitation service for older people who might be recovering from illness or other conditions such as dementia and physical disabilities, following a hospital stay or illness at home.

Conservative councillor Marcus Hart, county council cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “We are working with our health partners to agree the role that The Grange, Kidderminster, will take in meeting the health and care needs of older people in the county.

“It is important to note that some of the current funding for The Grange comes from the better care fund. The use of the fund in the future will be decided in agreement with all three NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in the county.

“No decision about the future of The Grange has been made at this time.”

Dr Simon Rumley, chairman and clinical lead for Wyre Forest CCG, said: “The CCG is looking at the best way to bring health and social care organisations together and deliver true integrated care in Wyre Forest, aiming to look after patients as close to their homes as possible.

“The Kidderminster Hospital site may be the centre of these exciting developments. As yet no decision has been taken on the future of The Grange.”

The single-site care unit project will be further discussed by trust board members at a meeting in August, when six options drawn up, which range from doing nothing to building a new unit at the hospital site, will undergo financial scrutiny.