Forum Brief: Care home places

The number of residential care home places is set to fall, as older people demand more independence andcontrol over their lives, health minister Stephen Ladyman has predicted.

Forum Response: BUPA

Katherine Miles, a spokesperson for BUPA, told ePolitix.com: "Extra care is not an alternative to and will not replace residential care, as the two types of care serve different purposes. There will continue to be demand for residential care because it is the most appropriate care for frail and dependent individuals."

Forum Response: Voice UK

Kathryn Stone of Voice UK told ePolitix.com: "We need to look more broadly at the provision of support for all people. Older people, people with learning difficulties and other groups are now rightly demanding high quality care and support. It will be important to ensure that any 'replacement' for residential care is regulated sufficiently robustly to ensure it achieves good outcomes for people.

"It is indeed likely that demand for care home places will fall but we should
not throw the baby out with the bathwater.  We must be careful  not to see
something different as being better by default."

Forum Response: Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Chrysa Apps, practice development manager at the Joseph Rowntree Housing
Trust (administered as part of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation) told ePolitix.com: "Enabling older people to live at home fits well with our philosophy of offering choice and independence rather than uprooting them, and sometimes harming their health as a consequence. Our Continuing Care
Retirement Community (CCRC) at Hartrigg Oaks in York has been purpose-designed to offer residents the assurance that care and support is available to all those who need it for up to 21 hours a week to enable them to remain in their own bungalow. Should they eventually require residential or nursing care, that, too, is provided within the community, ensuring that residents do not have to move away from friends and neighbours. Hartrigg Oaks provides an innovative model in the UK
that we are actively encouraging other care providers to adopt.

"In general, we believe that there needs to be  a range and variety of housing and care provision for older people and that a measured approach is required. We should beware the extremes of assuming that residential care is either 'all good' or 'all bad'."

Forum Response: Royal British Legion

A spokesperson for the Royal British Legion told ePolitix.com: "The Royal British Legion is one of a number of ex-Service charities providing a high standard of care in its Homes.  These Homes have very robust policies and procedures, including the administration of medicines and operate safely to meet all of the necessary standards.