A RESPITE unit used by some of the county’s most severely disabled children could be facing closure as health bosses plan to spend £1 million on upgrading facilities in Malvern.

Ludlow Road, a respite care unit in Kidderminster which offers short overnight breaks, has been classed as neither “operationally viable or cost-effective” by Worcestershire Health and Care Trust meaning it could permanently close.

The county council’s cabinet will meet on Thursday to decide whether to put the closure plans for Ludlow Road and refurbishments to the public for consultation.

The plan to close comes after Ofsted inspectors said the facility had to be a four-bed self-contained unit. This would no longer be value for money, Worcestershire Health and Care Trust said.

Sue Harris, the health trust’s director of strategy and partnerships, said the potential closure of Ludlow Road was based on economies of scale.

She said: “The council commission from us, as a provider, a set number of beds and clearly if you’ve therefore got fewer beds on one site, most of your overheads and your workforce are fixed, whether it’s four or six [beds], so your bed price does go up. It’s just not operationally viable.

“We have spoken in the trust for some time about wanting to make sure we have got the best environments that are fit for purpose and Osborne Court (in Malvern) is that.”

The closure of Ludlow Road would see a number of refurbishments to facilities and new beds at Osborne Court in Malvern. Currently, around 20 families use the four available beds at Ludlow Road.

The estimated £1 million plan to upgrade Osborne Court includes a new four-bed children’s unit available on weekdays with two of the beds commissioned by the county council.

A new five-bed adult’s unit would be available seven days a week and the existing one-bed Thorn Lodge facility would be available to children and young adults on weekdays to help the transition between children’s and adult’s care.

An existing five-bed unit open seven days a week would remain.

Health bosses say the type of upgrades proposed at Osborne Court would not be possible at Ludlow Road. No staff are expected to be made redundant if Ludlow Road did close.

If the consultation goes ahead, cabinet would again meet in September to make a final decision.

The council and health trust expects the refurbishments to be ready by April 2020 at the earliest if the plan went ahead.