New care scheme gives older people they key to freedom

Westminster council is working with NHS to develop supported housing that offers frail residents independence they crave

Care for older people is changing. People want to remain in their homes and to stay independent as long as possible as they advance in age. When they do need care in a residential setting, older people are demanding high quality providing individual rooms with ensuite facilities. New facilities should be able to cater for rising levels of need without residents constantly having to move to a new home.

We also need to preserve dignity and privacy for older people in whatever setting they are living. Working with the NHS, we are planning to redevelop our care provision for older people in Westminster to ensure it is fit for the future. We need to move away from the traditional use of residential care homes while still increasing the level of care provision within central London.

While redeveloping our existing residential care, we are planning to build 110 new extra care housing properties and make 130 more nursing beds available to older residents of Westminster who need them. The next question for the council is to work out where to locate these new homes. It is important to us to have an open dialogue with residents and their families on any changes that might affect them, so we will be involving residents in the design stage.

One of the key elements of this new approach is closer integration of services between the local authority and the NHS. The extra care housing we are proposing illustrates how councils can work closely with the NHS to provide care for our residents.

Every resident of these new homes will have a self-contained property with a key to their own front door – which residents have told us is very important to them – and they will have access to 24-hour care on-site if they need it. This arrangement helps residents to stay independent for as long as possible. The extra care housing will be located near the new care homes so residents can be part of a wider community of care that will provide for their needs as they become increasingly frail.

We aim to start the five-year programme of developments in 2014, taking a site by site approach to minimise disruption for current residents, and are confident that our plans will help to improve the lives of our older residents in need of care and enable more older people to be cared for in Westminster as their needs increase.

Cath Attlee is assistant director of joint commissioning for adult social care and health at Westminster council