2/10/2007 - Quantum leap in county council care facilities : Cumbria County Council

People could soon be asked to give their views on plans to invest millions of pounds in new modern care facilities for older people in Cumbria.

Next week (Tuesday 9 October), Cumbria County Council's cabinet will be asked to give the go-ahead for detailed evaluation and widespread consultation on a 10-year package of proposals which have at their heart a multi-million pound investment in six new, state-of-the-art residential homes.

All the homes would be built in partnership with the health service on the sites of both new and existing community hospitals. The plans build upon Cumbria Primary Care Trust's recently launched Closer to Home consultation which calls for the creation of residential care facilities on community hospital sites.

Each home would be the centrepiece of a 'resource centre' - campus-like facilities where older people would be able to access medical, physiotherapy, respite support, extra-care housing and other community services all in the same place.

Age Concern has, over the last six months, been chairing working groups representing every part of the county.

These working groups were tasked by the council to look at how its care facilities could be improved to meet the demands of the county's growing number of older people.

Staff at the council's residential homes have been independently assessed as being well-trained and providing excellent care. But the working groups believe that with better care homes, older people's dignity and independence could be vastly improved.

This is because residents and their belongings are currently squeezed into tiny bedrooms and often forced to share a bathroom with up to seven other people. Homes frequently have to turn away potential residents who need wheelchairs because the narrow corridors and small bedrooms cannot accommodate them.

The plans before councillors next week, recommend undertaking widespread public consultation on proposals to use the Government's Community Ventures Scheme to fund the replacement of six existing council-run residential homes with modern new homes in Wigton, Keswick, Millom, Alston, Penrith and Brampton. This would take place over the next five years.

Most of the new homes could be located on the site of existing community hospitals in each town. The Brampton home would be built on a new site in the town alongside a brand new community hospital, GP practice and a resource centre.

Council staff would move with residents who would have the opportunity to help choose bedroom colour schemes and other design features in their new homes.

Cabinet members will be also asked to give the go-ahead for more evaluation work on longer term proposals to upgrade and replace several homes in Barrow, Kendal, Staveley, and Windermere.

Under these plans, which the council predicts would take 5-10 years to deliver, residential care would be delivered on fewer sites and the total number of council-run residential and nursing care beds available in each area would increase.

Councillor Oliver Pearson, cabinet member responsible for Adult Social Care and Health at the county council, said: "The plans before cabinet next week herald a quantum leap in the quality of council-run residential care facilities in Cumbria.

"They are not some cost-saving measure to appease the bean counters but a package of serious recommendations on how more dignity and choice can be provided for Cumbria's growing number of older people through a major increase in public investment.

"Taken alongside the additional investment the council is already making in extra-care housing and night-time home care services, these proposals for improved residential would enable us to offer older people in Cumbria real independence and choice over the care they receive.

"The working groups chaired by Age Concern are owed a great deal of thanks for the work they have done in shaping these proposals which look ahead to where all our futures lie while preserving everything that is good about the here and now."

Jill Stannard, Cumbria County Council's Director of Adult Social Care and Health, said: "These plans present a once in a generation opportunity to expand and improve council-run care facilities for older people in Cumbria.

"The opportunity to work hand-in-hand with the health service is developing these proposals is particularly exciting at a time when more work than ever before is being done to provide seamless health and social care services.

Joanna Leith, Director of Carlisle and District Age Concern, said: "Age Concern organisations in Cumbria have welcomed the opportunity of being involved in the review of key residential services supporting older people in the county. We have been pleased that the county council has sought to draw in a range of opinions and fresh-thinking in its effort to improve council-run care facilities for older people in Cumbria.

"The plans will now be going out to the public for consultation and it is essential that, both now and in the future, the views of older people are at the centre of the decision making process and are clearly reflected in the final proposals."

Cumbria Primary Care Trust's Director of Corporate Affairs Ross Forbes, said: "These proposals herald a new era in joined-up working and joined-up thinking delivering the best possible results for the people who matter - those who use the services.

"As a result of dovetailing the efforts of Cumbria PCT with the county council, we have this exciting raft of new schemes which will transform the way we look after older people in the county."

Media enquiries to Mark Graham, Media Officer on 01228-606337

Follow the link at the bottom of the page to view the papers (items 21) to be considered by Cabinet next week.

If agreed by cabinet, the proposals concerning Wigton, Keswick, Millom, Alston, Penrith and Brampton will go out to public consultation before the end of this year. The county council's Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel will also be asked to consider the proposals.

The views of the Scrutiny Panel and the results of public consultation will be reflected upon before final proposals are submitted to councillors sometime in early 2008.

Evaluation work on the longer term proposals to upgrade and replace several homes in Barrow, Kendal, Staveley, and Windermere is unlikely to be completed in the short-term and detailed proposals will not be ready for public consultation until next year at the earliest.