In short
- The scrutiny committee of Westmorland and Furness Council (WFC) met on 23 September. It advises. It does not decide.
- The committee voted to recommend eight things to Cabinet on Grisedale Croft Care Home, starting with keeping residential care on Alston Moor.
- Cabinet decides. It is listed for Tuesday 13 October 2026 at Kendal Town Hall. WFC's own report calls that "the earliest date".
- Some of what the committee heard does not match WFC's written answers to our Freedom of Information requests.
- The council's own papers from 2017 and 2018 show that two step up and step down beds were set up at Grisedale Croft Care Home when the hospital beds closed.
- The NHS is now taking part in the conversation. Nothing has been agreed.
- The council must check who a decision would harm (an equality impact assessment) before deciding. The only one published is from 2 July, before the consultation results.
What happened at the scrutiny committee
The Health and Adults Scrutiny Committee met in Kendal on 23 September to hear the report on the consultation about Grisedale Croft Care Home. The officers' report recommended no option. The equality impact assessments will come with the Cabinet paper, not before.
Alston Moor Parish Council had sent 52 written questions and asked officers to answer them before Cabinet decides. The Monitoring Officer told the meeting that points raised would receive a written response, and that there would be further opportunities when Cabinet meets. No date was given.
The committee voted to recommend eight things to Cabinet on Grisedale Croft Care Home. In summary, it asks Cabinet to:
- reaffirm its commitment to keeping residential care on Alston Moor, which the committee described as the clearest and most consistent message from the consultation;
- if alternative provision in Alston is being considered, engage formally with NHS partners before a final decision is put into effect, including whether the former Community Hospital building could be used;
- complete a detailed options appraisal comparing refurbishment, replacement and alternative accommodation, with capital and running costs, capacity, risks and deliverability;
- carry out a full assessment of future demand on Alston Moor, covering population, dementia, respite and intermediate care;
- show clear evidence that any replacement is identified, deliverable and fully costed before the existing home is closed;
- receive full equality impact assessments, reflecting what the consultation found, before it decides, paying particular attention to rural isolation, transport, carers, older people, disability and access in winter;
- require a Resident Transition and Wellbeing Plan before any option that involves moving residents, with individual impact assessments, family involvement, advocacy support and continuity arrangements;
- consider whether there is enough time before 13 October to prepare the extra documents and assessments and to involve the Health and Wellbeing Board.
The committee's recommendations are advice to Cabinet. We will add the vote count when the minutes are published.
The two NHS beds: what the papers show
The committee was told the two beds are bought "on a spot basis", are "not an ongoing contract", and were used for about ten weeks last year. It was also told that officers had not been able to uncover the detail of the arrangement made when the hospital beds closed.
The detail is in papers WFC itself released to us on 24 July:
- In April 2017 the six inpatient beds at the Ruth Lancaster James Cottage Hospital closed temporarily because the NHS Trust could not staff them.
- From 24 April 2017, WFC's predecessor, Cumbria County Council, set up two step up and step down beds at Grisedale Croft Care Home, with what it called a "wrap-around care model" for stays of up to six weeks.
- The same briefing said the Trust had been clear there would be no permanent closure of beds until robust alternatives in the community were in place.
- The written agreement for the beds covered 1 May to 31 December 2017, at £722 per week for each patient.
Papers from the NHS Trust, disclosed to us in July, add to this. In November 2017 its board recorded the need to honour the agreement to put alternatives in place before any closure. In March 2018 its board was told of the formalisation of the closure of the hospital beds. A draft of the Alston Plan from early 2018 says two step up and step down beds would be provided at Grisedale Croft, supported by health professionals and free at the point of use for health patients.
To be fair to the other side: the Trust's board was also told in November 2017 that the beds had been used only about three times in the first months. We think the question is not whether the beds were busy in 2017. It is whether the alternatives promised alongside them were ever put in place.
On 29 September WFC told us the 2017 agreement has expired, and that since March 2024 the beds have been used "case by case". The North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board says it holds no records of commissioning the beds. The NHS Trust says the former commissioners "agreed the use of residential beds at Grisedale Croft" which it "continue[s] to have access to". Those two answers do not fit together. The Board's answer is now with the Information Commissioner.
On use, the Trust's figures are 236 bed days in 2023/24, 87 in 2024/25 and 184 in 2025/26. WFC's figure for 2025/26 is 151. The two have not been reconciled, and neither shows a steady fall.
Freedom of Information
The committee was told that requests had been dealt with except "potentially one". By 23 September we had made 22 requests to WFC. By our count, five had received no answer, five had been refused in whole or in part, and seven answers arrived only after the consultation closed on 19 August. Several internal reviews are under way. Every answer we quote is on the public record at WhatDoTheyKnow (links below).
When will the decision be made?
Cabinet is listed for Tuesday 13 October 2026 at 10.00am, in the District Council Chamber at Kendal Town Hall. It is a key decision, and part of the paper may be withheld from the public. The Cabinet papers should appear in the week before. We will say here when they do.
We are asking that the decision is not taken until the equality assessment is finished and the outstanding answers are in hand.
What is an equality impact assessment, and why does it matter?
An equality impact assessment is a written check a council makes before it decides something, to work out who would be affected and how, and what could be done to lessen any harm. It is the council's record that it has thought about the people a decision will hit hardest.
It matters because of the law. Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, public bodies such as Westmorland and Furness Council must have "due regard" to the need to avoid discrimination and to promote equal opportunity when they make decisions. The groups covered include older people and disabled people, who are the people a care home serves. The council's own form goes wider and covers 13 groups. "Due regard" means the decision-makers must actually consider the evidence, before they decide, not tidy up the paperwork afterwards.
Here, that means asking what happens to frail residents with dementia who are moved, to families who rely on a home in the town, and to people on Alston Moor who would face long journeys in winter.
Where things stand:
- The only equality impact assessment published for Grisedale Croft Care Home is Version 1, dated 2 July 2026. As at 25 September it had not been changed since it was posted on 6 July.
- It was written while the consultation was still open, so it could not reflect what people said. The committee's papers say detailed assessments will be sent to Cabinet with its decision paper, so the scrutiny committee did not see them.
- Several matters we would expect it to cover are not mentioned, including the suspension of new permanent admissions on 28 April, the two NHS beds, and how rural isolation affects the people concerned.
The scrutiny committee voted to recommend that Cabinet receives full and comprehensive equality impact assessments, reflecting the consultation feedback, before it decides. We agree. We are asking that the updated assessment is published in good time for residents and families to read it before 13 October.
The NHS: taking part now, missing before
On 21 August a meeting took place at Grisedale Croft Care Home. A director from the Integrated Care Board attended with WFC officers, the local GP practice and representatives of the Parish Council and the Grisedale Croft Working Group. We wrote on 25 August recording the points discussed, and again on 24 September. We have not had a substantive reply.
At the scrutiny committee, officers said that at Barrow the NHS supports the council's intermediate care beds on site. If that can be done there, the question is why it has not been arranged at Grisedale Croft.
The committee has also recommended formal engagement with NHS partners, including on whether the former Community Hospital building could be used, if alternative provision in Alston is being considered.
The Health and Wellbeing Board meets on Thursday 1 October in Penrith. We have written to its Chair with three questions.
Alston Moor and Eden
Alston Moor has about 2,000 people. In health planning it is counted within Eden. The NHS Trust told us that all Alston patients are part of the Eden Integrated Care Community, and that district nursing for Alston comes from the Eden district nursing service. Alston Moor is reached from Penrith only over the A686 across Hartside, which closes for hours in bad weather.
We are not asking to be taken out of Eden. We are asking that, wherever the boundaries are drawn, the plans say what is actually provided on Alston Moor itself.
What we are asking
- That the 52 written questions are answered in writing, with a date, before Cabinet decides.
- That officers correct in writing what the committee was told about the 2017 arrangement.
- That WFC sets out what it has asked the NHS to provide at Grisedale Croft since 2023, when, and what the answer was.
- That an updated equality impact assessment, reflecting what the consultation found, is published before Cabinet decides.
- That Cabinet takes the committee's recommendations into account, including whether there is enough time before 13 October to prepare the extra documents and assessments and to involve the Health and Wellbeing Board.