Plans to set up a council-run care home have progressed to the next stage - with a target of next year for construction.

Medway Council’s cabinet today (February 11) voted to begin work to find land owned by the authority where such a facility could be built.

It was one of the three options considered which hope to increase the number of care home beds in the Towns by creating a council-run facility.

Deputy council leader Teresa Murray (Lab) said the plans were not bluesky thinking but a serious effort to improve the availability and quality of beds available in Medway.

She said it would also have the benefit of creating jobs and reducing the distance between people in care homes and their families, as there had been cases where people were placed in care homes far away from loved ones.

She said: “This will mean our residents can be cared for nearer to home, that we can help drive the local economy through health and social care because there will be jobs.

“It will be, here in Medway, a gold standard to offer to people and, eventually, in the way any care facility does, turn a profit for the council that can be put back into making services even better.”

She added the administration wanted to move quickly on the proposals, with formal plans to be designed by the end of the year and construction to start next year.

She continued: “Other people have done this, since announcing we were going to do it I’m pleased to say there’s been a lot of interest.

“It’s a big project, one we have to be careful about, but one we are capable of delivering and will bring huge advantages to the local economy and particularly to those we care for.

“It’s important to get on with this, I don’t want it to be a pipedream. This is real. I want to see it coming out of the ground as early as next year and the plans to be in place by the end of this year.”

The proposed care home would have a total of 80 beds, some for residential and nursing facilities and others for assessment and care of specific conditions such as dementia.

The project is expected to cost £12.2 million for construction, which would be borrowed and then paid off over 30 years totalling, with interest, £26.4 million.

The costs of running the care home once built are estimated to be around £5.6 million per year — £3 million of which would be staffing costs.

Other options available to the cabinet were to repurpose an existing council-owned building or to buy a new piece of land specifically for building.

However, the construction of the home on land already owned by the council was deemed to be the most viable option - but no site has yet been identified as a likely location.

Cllr Simon Curry (Lab), portfolio holder for climate change and strategic regeneration, said the scheme was an opportunity to harness the latest technology.

He said: “This is a real opportunity from a regeneration point of view, as well as a climate point of view.

“The technology available for assisted living is quite exciting, it can record everything from a leak in a water pipe to tell you on your phone you’re got a leak right through to knowing if someone has had a fall.

“We can do all that within the budget we’ve got available quite easily and we’ve got an opportunity to build our own facility which is quite easily carbon zero.”

As of April 2024, Medway had 1,685 care home beds in total. However many residents are placed in care homes outside of the Towns.

The second option, to take the next step towards building a care home on land already owned by the council, was supported by cabinet members.

An in-depth analysis of possibilities for the project will now be conducted.