CAMPAIGNERS have called on the First Minister to step in and save a South Lanarkshire care home from the axe.

McClymont House Care Home in Lanark has been earmarked for closure as the South Lanarkshire’s Integrated Joint Board (IJB) as part of £1.5 million in cuts this year, but campaigners have fought to save it amid concerns quality of care for their loved ones could fall.

Concerned families have now written to John Swinney, “imploring” him to take action to save McClymont and any other care homes at risk amid swingeing social care cuts across Scotland.

Emma Koubayssi, whose grandmother lives at McClymont, said: “The reality is that my nana and other residents at McClymont will not receive the same level of care elsewhere.

“It cannot be right that care homes providing quality care are closed down and that residents are moved to homes that are of a poorer standard and as a result reduce the life expectancy of those residents affected.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said they “fully understand the distress caused to the families,” but added: “It would not be appropriate for the Scottish government to directly intervene in local decision-making processes.”