Salvation Army considering closing two Edinburgh care homes

The Salvation Army which runs two care homes in Edinburgh has confirmed it is considering closing both of them, resulting in relatives of the residents of one care home forming a campaign group.

At present the charity runs 11 residential care home in the UK, but says that it already has a large network of support for older people in the community and its model for the future is to move to “community-based support”.

The Army’s proposal is to transfer six of the homes to another provider, but in the case of Davidson House in Colinton and Eagle Lodge on Ferry Road these would simply be closed giving residents notice that they have to move out. Residents’ families have believed until now that the period of notice would be 28 days. They were given thee days’ notice of a Teams call and then told on the call a decision will be made in September.

Citing the problems of an ageing society and the difficulties the Salvation Army faces in continuing to offer residential care of the same high standard the organisation’s Director of Older People’s Services, Glenda Roberts said: “Our residential care homes are places of great love and care, but they do not have the specialised clinical expertise required by an aging population who are increasingly developing more complex conditions. Our buildings would also require significant modernisation.”

She continued: “Taking action now will allow us to reach more people in the future but we know how difficult residents and our staff will find this news. Our immediate focus is on our current residents, their loved ones and of course our staff while we make this change.”

The charity explained it would need investment of several millions to enable them to continue, but families of residents in Eagle Lodge on Ferry Road are demanding that the board of trustees reconsiders the move due to be finalised in September.

Residents action group

Families of the 30+ residents in Eagle Lodge have set up a petition which has already gathered almost 2,000 signatures, and have also written to Colonel Forrest the Chair of the Territorial Operations Board at the Salvation Army asking why it would not be possible for Eagle Lodge to be transferred to another provider. Most of the family members we spoke to agreed that would be the best outcome rather than having to move residents to another home.

In their letter (which is copied below) the many signatories set out what they believe is the answer to that question: “We understand an initial expression of interest from another provider was received, but The Salvation Army is reportedly no longer actively seeking alternatives. Surely, if The Salvation Army cannot continue residential care themselves, vigorously pursuing a new provider would be a significantly better option for these vulnerable residents, many of whom have dementia. Such a transfer would drastically reduce the upheaval and distress. We are genuinely concerned that some residents may not survive a move. We fear the decision has been partly influenced by the significant value of the land the care home occupies.”

A Salvation Army spokesperson said: “We do not run homes to make a profit but rising costs and recruitment issues mean many of our homes need emergency funding to keep them open.

“This year alone we need to spend around £3 million modernising and adapting our 11 homes. This is not a one-off cost, and our buildings would need further costly building and alteration work in years to come which would also run into millions of pounds.”

Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership

A spokesperson for the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership who are responsible for funding social care for some of the residents said: “We’re aware of the proposal to close Davidson House and Eagle Lodge care homes. We are working with the Salvation Army to ensure the formal closure process is all followed.

“Should the closures go ahead, we will help residents and their families find new homes that meet their needs. We appreciate that this situation is upsetting, and will continue to offer support to everyone affected through this difficult period of change.”

Families

Gail Gourlay represents her 93-year-old uncle, David Napier, who lives in the home, and said he was a Salvation Army officer all his life. He is a Colonel in the Salvation Army and she explained for that reason alone it was “great to get him in there”. She said it is such a lovely care home and the staff on site are “absolutely fantastic”. She outlined that there is an activities coordinator who arranges outings to the beach at Aberdour or to the canal for a trip on one of the barges.

She explained: “The staff are genuinely very good with their residents. My uncle has only been there about five months but it is great because it is very familiar to him. To find this out now it is pretty shocking. He has given his life to being a Salvation Army officer and I just feel the way that he and the others have been treated is just really shocking. The minimum guidance in Scotland is 13 weeks notice, but even if they had said they were going to close the care home in six months I wouldn’t like it but I might understand it. Even the staff will have to look for something else. At the meeting it was clear that for six of the 11 care homes they are looking to discuss handing them over to other providers – but not the Edinburgh ones. After the meeting they promised to give us a weekly update which we asked for. We believe that there is at least one partner who is very interested but they’re obviously not willing to tell us that – so we think they’re just not being open with us.”

Gail also said that she believed the Salvation Army had not had any contact with Edinburgh Council or the Care Inspectorate before the meeting with families. She said: “It is appalling that they propose to close a care home and not have any discussions with the very people who are funding the care.”

22 July 2025 Edinburgh – Salvation Army Eagle Lodge Care Home at 488 Ferry Road in Edinburgh

Salvation Army

The Edinburgh Reporter posed further questions to the Salvation Army about their interactions with the council and Care Inspectorate.

A spokesperson from The Salvation Army said: “It is important to stress that no decision has been made about Eagle Lodge or any of our residential care homes yet. This is because, if a home might close, we have an important legal obligation to consult with our staff first. This consultation allows staff time to understand the reasons why we think the home should close and provide counter proposals. This consultation period also allows us a chance to consider offers to transfer the home to alternative providers.

“At the end of the consultation period, all feedback from the staff consultation, points raised by residents and their families and viable offers from alternative providers will be properly considered before a final decision is made by The Salvation Army’s Territorial Operations Board.

“We have committed to updating residents on a weekly basis but we only want to provide facts and firm decisions. There are multiple conversations happening with stakeholders across all our care homes which include tentative queries.

“We are also in regular conversation with the local authority and the Care Inspectorate who are fully sighted on the consultation process.

“Should we get to the point of closure, we will ensure every resident has secured a new place before any home closes.”

Peta Harris told us that her 79-year-old father who has advanced dementia only moved into Eagle Lodge at the end of March last year. She and her family are very happy with his care in the Salvation Army home, although she finds it difficult to believe that with weekly fees of anything up to £1,800 the home is not able to make money.

Peta said: “We couldn’t be happier as a family. It is about where it is located, they have also just invested in a big new dining room. The residents are happy and it doesn’t smell like an old folks home. For us as a family when we found it and they had a space for Dad it made a horrible process bearable. The team are wonderful and it has become Dad’s home.

“This is a horrible situation and it is stirring it all up again for all the families. One resident in there is over 100 years old. What will happen to them?

“It had taken a long time for Mum to accept that Dad was going into care and to give someone else her trust to care for him. All of a sudden we got three days’ notice of a Teams meeting that was telling us in three months Dad was essentially going to be homeless. Now we have to go through this whole social work rigmarole again. And now we hear that there is a shortage of residential care beds and the Salvation Army plan to shut two homes.”

Local councillor concerned

Local councillor Stuart Dobbin said that he fears that the council would not be able to cope with a sudden demand for up to 40 places in other local care homes. He has encouraged council officers to take action and is pleased that the council may have brought about a delay in closure. He said that the Care Inspectorate guideline is to give relatives 13 weeks notice of any closure meaning that the home might not close until the end of the year.

But he said he is disappointed about the decision in two respects. He said: “The Salvation Army say they want to focus on elder care, but in the community. It is massively disappointing given how exceptionally well that care home performs. The families who have spoken to me have all had the highest praise for the management and staff. I’m sure it’s deeply disappointing for the staff as well who have clearly put in a huge amount of effort to achieve the high standard that is there. The other hugely disappointing thing is the somewhat brusque and exceptionally short notice. It appears to be outside of the Care Inspectorate guidelines. Council officers have been engaged with both the Care Inspectorate and the Salvation Army and I believe that the closure date – originally end of October – is now more likely to be the end of December.

“It gives other parties the opportunity to take it on as a going concern and even more importantly it allows the families to arrange all the necessary assessments that will determine other care options for their family members.”

Cllr Dobbin continued: “Demand is probably going to continue to grow faster than supply which also makes it a mystery to me why the Salvation Army are apparently losing money on care homes.”

This is the letter the residents’ families have signed and sent to The Salvation Army:

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Care Inspectorate report – Good and Very Good

The Care Inspectorate has consistently recorded very good inspection findings. In its most recent report dated 4 March 2025 following an unannounced visit by three inspectors on 24 and 25 February, they found that “people experienced compassionate and dignified care”. The inspectors also noted that the “environment had been refurbished and was clean, welcoming and comfortable”. They found that the service was well-managed with effective communication systems to share information across departments. Their ratings were Good and Very Good.

The comments from relatives are exemplary and included: ‘ I am really so happy with my relative’s care – they are all so kind and caring – really assured knowing that my relative is in the best of hands – as soon as I walked in I knew it was the right place – clean, homely, friendly – lots of activities going on. They gently encourage my relative along and she loves it once she has joined in – really can’t find any fault with them. Communication is very good and all the staff are so lovely and the activities person is just excellent – so much energy and enthusiasm.’

‘If I could sign up for a care home now I would sign up for eagle lodge. It’s not 100%, nowhere is but they recognise their areas for improvement. Staff are very kind, authentic, knowledgeable of the people they care for. My Mum has dementia and they are very knowledgeable about caring for people with dementia. They are also very kind to the relatives too.’

‘Everything is fine . We have relatives meetings and these are constructive – we talked about quality of food and how it could be improved. Communication with the service is really good – The activities person is always making sure my relative has company and the chaplain is very good and takes her along to church as religion is important to her.’

22 July 2025 Edinburgh – The Salvation Army Eagle Lodge Care Home at 488 Ferry Road in Edinburgh which is under threat of closure