Bury St Edmunds care home to be sold off by Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution
A Grade II listed town centre care home is to be sold off.
The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) has announced it is to sell Manson House on Northgate Street, Bury St Edmunds and Beaufort House in Somerset.
The charity plans to sell the two residential homes as going concerns 'to minimise any disruption for both residents and staff.'
R.A.B.I provides financial help to people from the farming community.
Manson House has 31 en-suite rooms and 23 self-contained flats for independent living.
A spokesperson for RABI said fewer people from farming backgrounds were now housed in the homes and it wanted to use the money from the sales to 'cater better for the needs of the farming community'.
It follows an eighteen-month review, carried out in consultation with external care sector specialists.
A spokesperson for RABI, said: "RABI’s council of trustees has made the difficult decision to divest the charity’s two residential homes, Manson House and Beaufort House.
"RABI will work to seek potential buyers who align with the values of the two homes and continue to maintain the high standards of care to residents.
"The residential homes were established to provide support to people from farming backgrounds.
"Where capacity permitted, other members of the wider, generally local, community have also been welcomed as residents."
Manson House underwent a major refurbishment and upgrade in the mid-2010s.
RABI spent £6m on the work, helped by a £4.5m legacy windfall from Margaret Stearn of Hertfordshire, who left her entire fortune to the charity.
The Duke of Gloucester, president of RABI, visited the site in 2015 to celebrate the upgrade of the Grade II listed home, which includes 23 self-contained apartments and 31 en suite residential rooms which were refurbished as part of the upgrade.
In 2016, Manson House in Bury St Edmunds was rated ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of health and social care in England.
It also received an ‘outstanding’ mark for ‘caring’, noting that: 'Staff went the extra mile to improve people’s quality of life.'
RABI added: "In recent years, societal shifts to supported care at home and in the local community, coupled with increasing requirements for complex care support, such as dementia care, which the homes are not able to provide, has resulted in a continuing decline in the number of retired farming people being supported at both homes.
"Whilst this decision hasn’t been taken lightly, the RABI council of trustees are content it is the most appropriate action to take to ensure RABI can continue to meet the charity’s core commitments to the farming community."
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