Three new centres and improved accommodation for people with learning disabilities are set to be built in Liverpool, as part of a £30m social care scheme.
The council-led plans recommend pushing ahead with the three, 60-bed flexible facilities that will open by 2020 in the north, south and central areas of the city. The goal is to provide state-of-the-art accommodation and care for people living with dementia, as well as those with another long-term residential and nursing care needs.
The aim of the centres is to help reduce the number of people unnecessarily delayed in hospital following NHS treatment and improving their experiences by driving up quality standards.
Councillor Paul Brant told JMU Journalism: “We have invested heavily in creating new social care hubs across the city in recent years, but more people are living longer and we need to make sure we have sufficient capacity in the social care system to meet the needs of people with dementia and other long-term care.
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The Cabinet member for Adult Social Care and Health added: “This is against a backdrop of rising demand and massive cuts to our budget from central Government – £444 million between 2010 and 2020 – and increasing pressure on the NHS.
“The facilities we are creating will help ease pressure on other areas of the NHS which are under constant strain, such as hospitals where beds are far more costly. Importantly, they will save the public purse money by ensuring that people aren’t tying up more expensive hospital beds.”
Almost £50 million a year is spent by the city council on residential and nursing care, plus a further £11 million on dementia and memory loss services.
The need for greater capacity in residential and nursing dementia care homes is due to an increasingly ageing population, which means that demand is expected to exceed the current market supply by 2020.
An estimated 1,300 people are currently in commissioned dementia placements, a figure that represents nearly 60% of all residential social care admissions for people aged over 65.
Deputy CEO of Shaw Healthcare, Suzanne Hughes, said: “The visualisations are fantastic and really bring the project to life. The ergonomic considerations factored into the architecture means that those who use the service are in the ideal environment to receive the best person-centred care possible.
“We are looking forward to delivering high-quality care to the people of Liverpool that supports our values of wellness, happiness and kindness.”