On 15th February 2022 the Methodist Homes For the Aged (MHA) announced to staff and residents that they intended to close Richmond care home in Bexhill. Families of residents have been given just weeks to rally support to save this brilliant purpose-built care home, and to prevent their vulnerable elderly loved ones from being evicted from their home. This petition is calling on the leadership team at MHA to reconsider their cost-cutting exercise.

There are currently 23 elderly residents at MHA Richmond. These are some of the most vulnerable people in our community, who have endured month after month of uncertainty and enforced separation from their families due to Covid-19. The residents and staff of MHA Richmond have supported each other through the toughest of times in the pandemic, and have formed bonds of friendship - bonds that will be broken if the care home is closed and staff lose their jobs. Many families are concerned that elderly relatives will be seriously affected by any move.

MHA Richmond is a gem of a care home! The team are caring and dedicated. The state-of-the-art building and it’s grounds are well cared-for by their dedicated domestic team, and maintenance person. It was a source of great pride for everyone that our local MP - Huw Merriman officially opened the renovated specialist dementia care unit just last year, after significant investment was spent on the building and it's interiors.

It would be such a waste for this beautiful, modern care home be sold to developers - and for the residents and staff to be cast out.

MHA have said that they plan to close MHA Richmond and are offering to relocate the residents to another MHA care home in St Leonard. From the outside this looks like a cost-cutting exercise that puts money before the well-being of both residents and staff. 

MHA has a motto Live Later Life Well - but to close MHA Richmond would be to make the residents Live Later Life LESS Well. 

If there must be a closure in the area, it makes more sense to close the older facility, and offer the residents there the opportunity to upgrade to MHA Richmond.

We’re calling on MHA to reconsider their decision to close MHA Richmond. It would be detrimental to our loved ones and will leave a significant number of local staff redundant, as we sit on the edge of a cost of living crisis.