TWO Swindon care homes in line to be axed will be named today.

Council officers are to announce their recommendations this afternoon, and a decision will be made by councillors at the cabinet meeting on April 7.

Earlier this month, the Evening Advertiser revealed how a councillor allegedly leaked closure details to staff at one of the doomed homes.

The two homes named by the councillor were Lease Hill in Branksome Road, Moredon, and Pine Trees in The Circle, Pinehurst.

But Coun Ian Dobie (Con, Haydon Wick), lead member for Social Services, denied individual homes had been earmarked for the chop at that time.

The other homes are Wick House, Liden; Whitbourne House, Park South; Fessey House, Haydon Wick; and Langton House, Wroughton.

While the imminent closures are a cause for concern for the current residents, health chiefs are also concerned about the knock-on effects.

Lyn Hill-Tout, chief executive of the Great Western Hospital, explained her fears in a letter to Social Services. Ms Hill-Tout said the Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, which runs the GWH, is "very concerned" about the predicted loss of 80 beds that will follow the closure of the care homes.

She said closures of care homes would increase the number of patients unnecessarily detained in hospital beds unless alternative arrangements were made.

Last month, the number of bed days lost to delayed discharges, or "bed-blocking", was 1,443 compared with 1,393 in January.

This had increased from 1,201 lost in December.

Her letter to Graham Pearson, assistant director of social services, says people should be cared for in the environment most appropriate to their needs but expressed concerns about how this may be achieved to ensure "there is no diminution in the support offered to the population".

She wrote: "If these or suitable alternative services are not adequately re-provided, there will be an impact on the hospital services by increasing the number of patients whose discharge is delayed.

"This would impact upon the trust's achievement of its demanding activity and performance targets and will compromise the quality of care we offer patients."

She added that the trust wanted to see plans on how the loss would be rectified before any closures took place.

Many care homes are at breaking point because of a combination of underfunding and new regulations introduced under the Care Standards Act 2000, whose tough new standards often result in costly improvements.

Two homes must go to help pay to bring the others up to scratch. According to council officials, keeping all six open would mean spending £1.75 million on extra staff and £400,000 for an upgrade, in addition to the £600,000 already agreed by cabinet in July.

Alex Emery