Fears over future of home for amputees

Since 1963, the Ancaster BLESMA home in Crieff has been a refuge for military personnel who have suffered terrible injuries in conflict.

Run by the BLESMA (the British Limbless Ex-Service Men’s Association) charity, the centre has seen a decline in numbers over the years. Once home to around 35 veterans, the passing of the war generation means the number of residents is now in single figures.

The charity has set itself a 2012 deadline to sell the home because it no longer makes economic sense to keep it open.

BLESMA hopes that a reputable private operator will take it over as a going concern, something that could be achieved by opening it up to non-military old folk. Otherwise, the residents might have to be moved to another veterans’ home such as the ones run by the Erskine charity.

“We have about 400 Second World War amputees still alive across the whole of the UK. That is more than we have got from Afghanistan in ten years. But that is not enough of a client base to sustain a home in Scotland,” said Jerome Church, BLESMA general secretary.

The home provides full time residential care for elderly residents and is therefore not suitable for younger amputees returning from Afghanistan. Church said: “We want to do right by the surviving members and as many of the staff as possible. We would like to hand over to another provider as a going concern. We have been in consultation with one or two organisations, but they have to look at the world at the moment and it is a very, very difficult market. We are on a bit of a bouncing act, trying to achieve that and yet not going down the road where we end up with only two members. It would not be a proper use of charitable money. So we are trying to avoid closing it. We want to pass it on at a sensible price to someone who we think could do the job.”