A CARE home run by a company with severe financial difficulties will be taken over.

The Springfield Care Home in Barkingside, which was previously run by Southern Cross, will be transferred to Life Style Care Plc later this month.

The future of the home, which houses 80 people, had been uncertain after the collapse of Southern Cross, who leased the property from Jersey based landlords Regency International Limited.

Southern Cross is currently winding up its operations and has been seeking to transfer as many of its 752 homes to a new provider as possible.

The company says it has reached agreement for the majority of those homes and confirmed that Springfield is among those which will be taken over.

Chief Operating Officer for Life Style Care, Paul Ware, confirmed the company would take charge of the home on October 14, subject to legal process being satisfactorily completed.

He added: "All jobs at the home are safe and we hope the residents will all be reassured by the transfer."

Life Style Plc was formed in 1987. The group currently has a portfolio of eleven purpose built Care Homes and looks after 1,100 residents.

The group plans to take over care provision at 22 Southern Cross homes, increasing the number of beds in its homes to 2,900.

Council officers from Redbridge had been in negotiations with Regency International Limited, since July in an attempt to secure the future of the home.

A spokeswoman for Redbridge Council said: “Springfield Care Home is operating as normal and the council has been informed that it is one of a number of Southern Cross homes due to transfer to a new provider later this year.

“This transfer includes all of the Southern Cross care homes that Redbridge currently has residents placed in.

“We are in contact with the manager of the homes and have been assured that there has been no impact on the staff or services provided to residents.

"We are also in contact with the new provider to put necessary arrangements in place to make sure the transfer is as smooth as possible.”

Amember of staff at the home, who did not want to be named, said: "We are all very happy and relieved.

"We are looking forward to working with Life Style Care."

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