CARE home operator New Care is urging Cheshire East Council to reconsider its refusal to approve plans for a 60-bed home in Wilmslow in light of the coronavirus pandemic and mounting pressure on the NHS.

New Care has resubmitted a previously refused planning application for a care facility in the town.

The application was refused planning permission in January by Cheshire East’s Northern Planning Committee and is the subject of an appeal.

New Care is now asking the council to reconsider and to grant consent for the scheme rather than waiting months for the appeal process to run its course so the care facility can be built.

Cath Fairhurst, chief operating officer at New Care, said: “COVID-19 has put massive immediate pressure on the NHS.

“The current situation has also highlighted the ongoing huge shortfall of beds in hospitals, many of which are in use by stable patients who have been medically discharged but require rehabilitation before returning home.

“There is nowhere for these patients to go, so they remain in hospital blocking beds.

“As a registered nurse and in all my years of experience working in the health sector, we are navigating our way through unprecedented times.

“A fresh approach to the provision of care facilities and beds is needed now more than ever before.

“We have just finished build on a 71-bed care facility in Bramhall, which has immediately been contracted in its entirety by the NHS.

“This care facility will now be used to free up hospital beds at Stepping Hill Hospital by providing a care pathway for medically stabilised patients, who would otherwise stay in hospital for prolonged periods.

“The contract with the NHS will not only assist with the current crisis, but when coronavirus is under control there will undoubtedly be a need for more care home beds to deal with the longer-term implications of the more vulnerable patients.

“Starting this week, Stepping Hill Hospital will facilitate the move of 71 patients, freeing up vital beds.

“It is in light of this and our continued commitment to working with and helping the NHS that we want to deliver our proposed care facility on Handforth Road as soon as possible, which will not only offer targeted residential, nursing and dementia care services for Wilmslow and the surrounding areas, but will no doubt also provide allocated beds to the NHS to use to ease pressure within local hospitals.”