A nursing home patient fears that increased fees will soon exhaust his savings, after his charity-run accommodation was sold to a private operator.

The Royal British Legion Industries charity took the “difficult decision” to sell its two care homes - Bradbury House and Appleton Lodge - on its military veteran’s village in Aylesford at the start of the month.

Both facilities are now owned and run by Eleanor Nursing and Social Care.

All the staff have been retained and residents have felt no difference in their standard of care since the switchover on November 1, but they have been warned fees will rise.

Bradbury House was formerly known as Gavin Astor House. It cares for 50 patients - the vast majority of whom have dementia.

Neighbouring Astor Lodge, which was only opened by the late Queen Elizabeth ll in August 2019, accommodates a further 15 people.

Phil Mason has been a resident at Bradbury House for 22 years. He has multiple sclerosis, is partially paralysed and requires full-time nursing care.

The former British Telecoms manager, now 76, has been paying £4,000 a month for a room with en-suite facilities, but expects that to rise to more than £7,000 a month.

The guideline price for care by Eleanor at Bradbury is £1,670 a week, equivalent to £7,236 per calendar month.

Mr Mason said: “I have some savings and I had expected those to last me the rest of my life, but with an increase of £3,000 a month, they will soon be used up.

“I was expecting the fees would go up with inflation by around 3%, but not by 75%.”

Mr Mason is self-funding the cost of his care. Once his savings have been exhausted, the cost is likely to be met by Kent County Council.

But he said: “It means there will be nothing left for me to give to my three sons or seven grandchildren.”

A spokesman for the Royal British Legion Industries said: “Following a full strategic review of the charity's activities, the difficult decision was made to sell our care homes, Bradbury House, and Appleton Lodge.

“The rising cost of running our care homes and the high level of specialist provision required informed the decision to sell.

“As part of this transition, all staff members have been transferred (to the new owners), and our residents are unaffected as they continue to receive the high standard of care by a team who know and understand their needs, and whom the residents know and trust.

“The well-being of the people we care for is always our top priority and, although both care homes have been sold, care will remain on the village and can still be accessed by RBLI's residents who will still also benefit from the support of the wider veteran community.”

As it happens, Mr Mason is not a military veteran. He said: “At the time that I applied for a place, over two decades ago, RBLI had a policy of accepting 10% non-military residents, and I snuck in under that.”

Eleanor Nursing and Social Care has been approached for comment.

In April last year, KentOnline visited Bradbury House as part of our Homes for Heroes campaign to raise £100,000 for the RBLI’s Centenary Village project to provide more homes for ex-servicemen.