Visionary plans to expand housing with care and support are being given the green light by Lancashire County Council’s cabinet.
The county council currently commissions affordable and attractive housing with care and support for a huge range of people, including 14 ‘extra care’ facilities for people with care needs aged 55 and over, where residents have apartments with their own front door and access to on site cafes, hairdressers and other communal services.
There are also 2000 ‘supported living’ spaces for people of working age with disabilities, autism or complex needs across Lancashire. These offer places for people to live independently with access to care and support, in places like Chorley, Burnley, Fleetwood, Preston and Lancaster, Burnley and Fylde.
Lancashire County Council is planning for increased demand for these types of facilities, with the over 65s making up 28% of the UK’s population by 2038 and the over 75s almost a third, and the number of working age adults with learning disabilities also predicted to go up.
This week, its cabinet is set to approve concrete steps to address future requirements, called ‘the Lancashire Accommodation with Support Plan.’
This will see a shift towards care and support in people’s homes and communities, as opposed to in traditional residential care homes, which will continue to exist alongside the new provision.
It means a total of around 5,000 new homes are needed, including an additional 4,200 extra care facilities for sale or rent in the next 15 years, 550 supported living homes for working age people with disabilities, 250 by 2034 for working age adults with serious mental health needs and 190 for adults with physical disabilities or long term conditions over the next decade.
The county council will provide care and support services, while working closely with district authorities and the NHS to enable sensitive development close to good transport links and learning and employment opportunities.
It’s also anticipated that the plans will bring hundreds of jobs to the care sector in Lancashire in future.
Louise Taylor, Lancashire County Council’s executive director of adult services and health and wellbeing, also a director of health and care integration for the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, said: “This is a very positive step forward and it will enable us to expand our housing with care and support options and relies on strong partnership working between the county council and district councils, housing providers and developers and the NHS.
“This strategy includes adapting homes so that people can stay in their own homes for longer and will ensure that we meet future requirements, while enabling better wellbeing and improving health outcomes across our region.”
County Councillor Graham Gooch, cabinet member for adult social care, said: “I am delighted that we are approving plans aimed at providing care and support in people’s homes and in the communities in which they live.
“Housing with care is an attractive alternative to traditional, long term residential care which will help people to live better lives, improve health outcomes and support safer hospital discharges by providing the right care, in the right place and at the right time in future.”
To find out more information about working in Lancashire’s care sector, visit commissioningAgeWell@lancashire.gov.uk