Funding For Scheme To Get Organisations Working More Closely

Care agencies are teaming up to promote independent living for elderly people in the Selby area – and prevent avoidable hospital admissions. The Department of Health has announced funding for a scheme to look at how health, social care services, housing support and voluntary organisations can work more effectively together.

The project, bringing together North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust, North Yorkshire County Council, Selby District Council and social housing provider Selby Home Improvement Agency (HIA), is part of the Department of Health’s Partnership for Older People (POPP), which provides £60 million funding to council-based partnerships.

Howard Osborne, POPP project manager, said as part of the scheme, Selby HIA would provide and install key safes into the homes of vulnerable, elderly residents in the area. He said: “A key safe is a small secure container with a combination lock, so visitors can get into a house without the need for lots of copies of keys to be made, or without relying on the availability of a family key holder to access the property in an emergency.”

He said older people currently made up nearly 50 per cent of all hospital admissions nationwide, with the majority of cases being avoidable. “The installation of the key safes will allow a multi-agency assessment team comprising of social care, health and housing professionals and community support practitioners to access the property and provide care and advice in the home,” Mr Osborne said.

He said the access would allow for earlier detection of potential health problems with the elderly, reducing hospital admissions and enhancing their independence. “The emphasis of this project is to reduce the reliance on hospitals by introducing new approaches which promote the independence, health and safety of older people in Selby district,” she said.

“The provision of the key safes by Selby HIA will allow relevant professionals to assess older people without removing them from their own homes.”

Town mayor Doreen Davies said: “I fully endorse the key safes. They’re a very good idea. A lot of elderly people are moved when there’s no need to move them. If they get back up from the authorities, then they can often stay in their own homes.”