600 sign petition against Selfoss nursing home closure

About 600 people have signed a petition opposing the planned closure of Ljósheimar, a nursing home in Selfoss, Iceland. Health Minister Alma Möller is due to receive the signatures today, Morgunblaðið reports.

The home is in a wing of the Health Institution of South Iceland, whose rooms are to be converted for offices and primary healthcare. Ljósheimar currently houses 20 people in single rooms that campaigners say were specially designed for older residents.

The petition’s accompanying statement says about half a billion krónur in public funds would be spent converting a recently built nursing home into office space for the health centre. It argues that moving the residents elsewhere is unacceptable and that the closure would cut nursing home capacity in Árborg by 20 per cent.

The number of nursing home places in Árborg has remained unchanged over the past decade, while the municipality’s population has grown from about 8,000 to about 13,000, the statement says.

“This decision is arbitrary,” said Aldís Sigfúsdóttir, one of the petition’s organisers. She said residents currently have good accommodation and that there is a long waiting list for places at Ljósheimar. The need for nursing home places has been confirmed, she said, adding that the minister should examine how the matter is being managed.