PPE disposal at former St Annes care home was of water-damaged aprons

The boxes were in a skip at the former Rosewood Lodge care home in Highbury Road West and soon removed but one nearby resident said: “I couldn’t believe it. It just struck as a severe case of waste. The boxes appeared to contain aprons – hundreds in each one.

"They could have been out of date but there are other non surgical uses.”

Rosewood Lodge, prominently situated at the corner of Clifton Drive North, closed in November and as part of of the Lakeview Rest Homes group, which runs The Moorings and Newfielkd Lodges homes in St Annes and Lakeview Lodge at Fairhaven.

The group’s operations manager Gina Pownall said: “The PPE was stock stored at one of our other homes that was water damaged following a leak.

"We just used the available space in the skip at Rosewood. It wasn’t related to the closure.”

Of the Rosewood Lodge closure, the Lakeview group said in a statement: “Rosewood Lodge had been owned and operated by the Wood family since 1987 and, over the years, gained a well-earned reputation for providing exceptional levels of personalised care in an environment of a high standard.

“For some time, Lakeview Rest Homes Ltd had been undertaking comprehensive reviews of our refurbishment and redevelopment options at Rosewood Lodge Care Home.

“It became apparent that the limitations of the property meant that it was eventually going to become incompatible with our care values.

“While we were comfortable that Rosewood Lodge Care Home was still able to offer sincere and compassionate care to our residents, the impact of the current, and projected, financial climate accelerated the process.

“As a group, we were not prepared to compromise on the care we offer and nor were we prepared to raise our fees to the unsustainable levels required to absorb these increasing costs.

"In light of this, we took the sad decision to close Rosewood Lodge.

“All of our residents were offered accommodation within the group and all members of staff offered employment within the group.”