Borders Council review homes in on elderly locals

RADICAL plans have been unveiled to cut by more than half the number of elderly Borderers with health problems living in care and nursing homes or long-stay hospital beds, writes Andrew Keddie.

It is an ambitious and controversial target which will result in five per cent “efficiency savings” and, it has been conceded, cause “some anxiety” among the elderly, their families and their carers.

But it lies at the heart of the Transforming Old People’s Services (TOPS) programme which has been created during the past two years by social work bosses at Scottish Borders Council and this week went out to public consultation for three months.

The summary document states that three-quarters of people needing high levels of care and support are currently either in residential homes, nursing homes or hospitals.

“In line with people’s wishes to stay at home for as long as possible, the council aims to change this over a period of time and support at least 55 per cent of this group to stay at home,” it says.

Notwithstanding the potential volatility it will engender in families, achieving that goal is all the more daunting given that the number of people aged 65 or over in the region – currently around 22,000 – is set to rise by 40 per cent by 2020, while those aged over 85 will rocket by 57 per cent during the same period.

Also over the next 11 years, the number of older people with dementia is expected to increase from 1,468 to 2,305.

Given that age and infirmity “timebomb”, the extra cost of service provision to SBC and NHS Borders would be £8.2million a year by 2020.

“Put simply, the status quo is not an option,” Elaine Torrance, SBC’s head of social care and health, told TheSouthern this week.

“The present system of provision for the elderly, involving the public and independent sector, has been allowed to evolve and is often arbitrary rather than tailored to meet the real needs of our older people, most of whom, we know, want to stay in their own communities as long as possible. Most want to stay at home and would like a greater say in how support is provided and we all, quite rightly, have high expectations of the care we will receive in our later years.”

The Borders review which led to the production of TOPS was recently described as “the biggest since the birth of the welfare state” by council social work director Andrew Lowe.

In his foreward to the summary document, he admitted the process of introducing new services, adapting existing ones and reducing traditional services is taking place in a difficult financial climate.

“This review is proposing to make five per cent efficiencies while at the same time improving the quality of services,” said Mr Lowe.

The council has already agreed to close one of its six residential homes at Dunwhinny Lodge in Peebles and replace it with extra-care housing (ECH) which will be built by Eildon by 2012. It has also farmed out a large chunk of its home care to external operators.

An increase in ECH, with its specially-adapted apartments and care staff on site 24 hours a day, is a key plank of TOPS.