I don't believe that by the 1960's the workhouse stigma would have still been applicable certainly not in the same manner it would have been in its original role.
I'm not sure when the transition from Workhouse to Residential Care Centre began but it probably had a number of different phases.
My first dealings with the place were around 1980 and by then it was a full time Care Centre and many of the residents had been living there for 15 to 20 years - many of them had mental health problems but others had basically been homeless through drink or drug problems and had been given refuge there, others just remembered it as their home.