A PLANNING application has been made to demolish part of the former Ainsworth Nursing Home. The site on Knowsley Road was most recently in operation as a 33-bedroom nursing home, but was originally used as an isolation hospital for smallpox patients in the 1900s. Between 1913 and 1921, the home was also used for tuberculosis patients. The isolation hospital closed in the 1982 and was converted before opening as a nursing and residential home in 1986. In November 2018, 24 residents had to be relocated after the owner took the decision to shut the premises. The previous owner of the nursing home sub-divided the site and sold it off in lots.