Elderly housing scheme announced

The health minister has announced an £80m programme aimed at providing more than 2,000 flats for older and vulnerable people.
 
Ivan Lewis disclosed the locations of the 25 sites while accompanied by Sir Michael Parkinson, the UK's dignity ambassador, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, while presenting a cheque for £3.8m to the new site.
 
The scheme aims to provide 'extra care' housing that will enable older people and those with long-term health conditions the opportunity to continue living in their own homes, rather than move into specialised care homes.
 
Extra care housing allows the tenant to rent or buy the property on a leasehold and residents will be offered support and care services on-site, with greater access to social and leisure pursuits.
 
Lewis said that the reasoning underpinning the proposal rested on cases where older couples had been "forced apart because one requires care and has no choice but to enter residential or nursing care leaving their partner at home".
 
"I want to change that. Extra care housing will give people a choice about how and where they choose to spend their later life," he added.
 
In the past four years, a total of £147m has been allocated by the Department of Health for extra care provision and this latest cash injection will go to the 25 schemes over the next two years.