Derbyshire County Council has opened a care home ready to welcome its first residents to rest and recuperate after suffering from coronavirus.
The new Ada Belfield facility in Belper (pictured), temporarily renamed the Florence Nightingale Home, will allow those recovering from Covid-19 to be housed in a fit-for-purpose facility to minimise risks to residents of Derbyshire care homes.
Built to replace the current Ada Belfield care site in Belper, the home will be used exclusively to accept people discharged from hospital who need to rest, recuperate and isolate after suffering from Covid-19 but are not yet ready to go home.
The 40-bed unit, set over two floors, is built on the site of a former Thornton’s factory site.
Plans to open it as a conventional care home are currently on hold. For now, the home will open with ten beds, with the potential to expand to 20.
“By opening Ada Belfield as a Nightingale-style unit we will be able to help people to leave hospital and care for them to become well enough to go home, or the place they call home, separate from other vulnerable people,” said Derbyshire Council Leader Councillor Barry Lewis.
The care centre is part of a larger £10m development that includes a new library.
