Cumbria County Council could soon begin putting in place some of the early financial building blocks which might be used to pay for six new residential care homes.
The county council is currently consulting on plans to build state-of-the-art care homes next to community hospitals or on sites nearby in Wigton, Keswick, Millom, Alston, Penrith and Brampton.
The plans build upon Cumbria Primary Care Trust's Closer to Home improvement programme which supports the creation of new residential care facilities on or near community hospital sites.
At their meeting next Tuesday (8 April), the county council’s cabinet will be asked to give the county council's support to the preparation of an outline bid to the Department of Health for funding to pay for any eventual scheme. The bid would be submitted by the Primary Care Trust with the support of the county council.
The county council wants to begin exploring possible funding options now which could be taken forward if councillors choose to proceed with the care home improvement plans at the end of the consultation period.
Older people's charity Age Concern has helped the council come up the care home plans which would see each form the centrepiece of a 'health village', offering respite support, GP and other community services, all in the same place.
Bedrooms in existing council-run homes are too small with people often having to share bathrooms because of a lack of en-suite facilities.
Council staff would move with residents to the new homes which would offer residential and nursing care in the same place. Currently, residents in Cumbrian council-run homes have to move out when their care needs rise above a certain level.
The Department of Health will consider a range of different funding models for providing capital funding for the development of any new scheme. These could include public sector capital, the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) programme, or Community Ventures.
It will be for the county council to decide whether these or any other available funding models provide value for money for residents and council taxpayers, are sustainable over the long-term and enable the delivery of consistently excellent standards of council-managed care in each new home.
Councillor Bill Wearing, cabinet member for Adult Health and Wellbeing at the county council, said: "There is a real desire for council-run care homes that provide facilities equal to the very best available in private sector.
"It is still far too early to say what any eventual funding programme will look like for these new council-managed homes but we want to make sure that we are in a position alongside the Primary Care Trust to take full advantage of all the available government funding out there should we choose to proceed."
Jill Stannard, Cumbria County Council’s Director of Adult Social Care and Health, said: "The opportunity to work hand-in-hand with the health service in developing these proposals is particularly exciting at a time when more work than ever before is being done to provide seamless health and social care services."
People have been having their say on the care home improvement plans at a series of drop-in sessions and public meetings which are taking place before 28 April when the consultation ends.
The full consultation document available in libraries and online at: http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/adultsocialcare/carehomesconsultation/
After listening to local people’s views, more detailed plans will be developed for consideration by county councillors later in the year.
ENDS
Media enquiries to Mark Graham, Media Officer on 01228-606337
Notes
The Department of Health has identified three options for providing capital funding for the development of community hospitals and services under the 'Community Ventures' heading:
* Public sector capital, made available to Primary Care Trusts, out of an overall allocation of £750m over a five year period.
* Through LIFT (NHS Local Improvement Fund Trust), which Community Health Partnerships has developed working with PCTs, the private sector and the Department of Health;
* Community Ventures, which will bring together a broader range of partners than currently in place to provide responsive local services and not just the buildings they are delivered in. A Community Venture would be run as a commercial business but need not be based on a for-profit motive. Investors and partners could include the local NHS (PCTs, Foundation Trusts, acute Trusts and/or mental health Trusts), local authorities, the third sector, social entrepreneurs as well as the independent sector.