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Home closure means unsettling move

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 30th Jan 2004

AN Alliance councillor has said that the decision to close Minnowburn House Elderly Persons' Home will have a disastrous effect on the lives of elderly people in Castlereagh.

Yesterday's decision by the South and East Belfast Trust means that residents will be moved to Willowfield in East Belfast.

Councillor Sara Duncan said: "This unsettling move will have a disastrous effect on elderly people who assumed Minnowburn was their permanent home. I speak from experience, as my own father-in-law died from a heart attack three days after having to move from a care home to a nursing home.

"Castlereagh Borough has a high percentage of pensioners living in it, and Minnowburn House was convenient for relatives visiting from Belfast, Lisburn and Castlereagh. A move at this stage in the residents' lives will be extremely distressing, and while I have written to the Trust to express my opposition, the decision has, regrettably, now been taken."

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Previous news story: Call to examine loyalist links to racist attacks (Thu 29th Jan 2004).
Next news story: Reform Agreement or it will die: Ford (Tue 3rd Feb 2004).

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