A care home is hoping to add 12 more rooms after experiencing “great demand” following the pandemic.

EC Romford Holdings, which owns Ashling House in Hornchurch, has applied to Havering Council to build a part double storey rear extension, enabling it to add 12 rooms including toilets, two new bathrooms and one entertainment room. 

General manager and owner Nir Shamir said several care homes around Havering had closed down during the pandemic but that Ashling House had seen a “great demand for more care rooms”, and had had to turn most of its recent applications away. 

Currently, Ashling House has 11 bedrooms over two floors.

In documents filed as part of the submission, architectural agency Seguin Design said that benefits of the proposal would include local employment, while also potentially saving the NHS thousands by keeping people in care homes as opposed to hospital. 

Mr Shamir said: “Respite at a care home is a very efficient way to look after elderly people after hospital treatment and before they can go back home.  

“I should point out that in several cases, people on respite requested to remain in Ashling House on a permanent basis.   

“In the past few months, we had to decline many requests from hospital as we had no rooms available for respite.  

“I am aware that in such cases people have been sent to care homes that can be more than 40 or 50 miles away, causing unnecessary stress to the families.” 

If approved, the work is expected to be completed by April 2023. 

View the application on Havering Council’s planning portal using the reference P1559.22. 

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