A GAINSBOROUGH care home for elderly people and dementia sufferers could be undergoing a dramatic facelift, under new county council plans.
The Cedars on Morton Terrace is one of eight homes across the county featured in an ambitious scheme to change the face of care for older people.
Council chiefs insist the home will not close, but replaced with an improved building with modern fac
ilities and the choice and flexibility of a range of high quality services.
Lincolnshire County Council’s executive councillor for adult social care Coun Graham Marsh said the bold move will really change services for a generation of older people who have increasingly different care needs.
”We want to work to modernise services over a three-to-five year programme to ensure they are high quality, offer good value for money and a great choice of housing options,” he said.
”The consultation will also involve valuable input from our staff who provide an essential service to help support many of our older residents in the county.”
After further consultation, the council plans to replace existing residential care with specialised dementia centres and brand-new ‘Extra Care’ housing schemes, which encourage people to remain independent in their own homes.
These could include self-contained apartments with en-suite bedrooms, and would have care support on site, communal areas and social facilities such as shops, cafes and pubs.
The county council said it has carried out extensive consultations over the past year with older people, their families and representative groups, which show the traditional patterns of care are no longer appropriate for future service users.
Coun Marsh said the proposals aim to give older people greater choiuce and control over the care package which suits their needs.
“With a significantly increasing older population, it's important that we look to the future on behalf of those who will need care and home support in the years ahead as well as those people who need and use our services today,” he said.
“Flexible care choices, services and quality care, both for people living independently at home, in residential care or using day and respite care will be better as a result of this programme.”
He added: “We are also specifically looking at providing first class dementia care which will bring comfort and relief to those families who are affected by this condition.”
The consultation will be officially launched later this month and all those using these services, families and carers will be invited to take part.
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