Residential Futures proposals near completion

Release Date:  19-Jun-2008

Proposals which will re-shape the way Bristol provides services to older people will be considered by select and scrutiny chiefs next week (MON).

Key elements of the revised framework which was the subject of extensive discussions with residents, their relatives, staff and trade unions include:

• All of the 468 current residents at council residential homes will only have to move once - and then to improved accommodation
• Every resident will have the choice of remaining in council-run homes
• No compulsory staff redundancies
• The closure of seven homes over a period of five years with the earliest taking place in 2009/10 and the renovation of the remaining six to provide three homes for people with dementia and four Resource Centres providing both re-ablement services and residential beds
• The re-opening of the refurbished and currently empty Vetchlea EPH

Councillor Derek Pickup, Cabinet Member for Care, Tackling Deprivation and Crime, said: “This has been a massive undertaking and the proposals, which are not yet finalised, are the result of much work and extensive consultation.

"But I believe that the package, which will be considered by the Select and Scrutiny Committee sets out the basis of a service offering the widest possible choice and independence to older people, in line with their wishes; services fit for the 21st century and the best possible use of resources.

“The extensive consultation and work on the Residential Futures programme has enabled us to come up with a set of proposals which I believe meet the needs and address the concerns of all our residents, their relatives and staff.

“This review is about changing the way we deliver services to older people in order to improve, not making cuts. The amount we spend on services to older people will not decrease; in fact we are investing an additional £4 million in addition to the capital generated by the sale of homes earmarked for closure.

“The key to our ability to deliver is our success in reducing the number of older people entering residential care through the provision of more Home Care - enabling more people to remain in their own home - and the ongoing creation of Very Sheltered Housing schemes which are very popular.”

A final report on the Residential Futures programme will be considered by Cabinet on July 31. The joint meeting of the Adult Community Care Select Committee and the Care and Safer Communities Scrutiny Commission will take place on Monday, June 23 at the Council House, College Green.

The cost of the Residential Futures programme will be met through the capital receipts generated by the sale of seven council EPHs and the investment of a further £4 million, £3 million of which will be used to refurbish Vetchlea EPH.

Under the revised proposals, the council will retain two more homes than under the original model, keeping seven facilities open rather than five.

The re-opened and remodelled Vetchlea will become a residential home for people with dementia, as will Hollybrook, in Hartcliffe, and Brentry, in Brentry.

Four EPHs will be re-modelled and refurbished to become ‘evolving Resource Centres’ - Maesknoll, (Whitchurch), Broomhill, (Brislington), Bowmead, (Stockwood) and Westleigh (St Georges). These will provide both short-stay assessment, respite and re-ablement, as well as residential accommodation.

The remaining seven will close over five-years with the first one shutting in 2009/10 and the last in 2012/13. They are: Hayleigh (Bedminster), St Peter’s (Westbury-on-Trym), Birchwood (St Annes), Gleeson, (Fishponds), Greville (Stockwood), Coombe (Westbury-on-Trym) and Rockwell (Lawrence Weston).

In addition, the council is in talks with the PCT over the re-development of Brentry as a care home for people with dementia and a Resource Centre.

A ‘taking stock’ review will be undertaken two years into the programme to check that the actual demand for services is as predicted and that the required outcomes, benefits and value-for-money are being realised.

The numbers of older people (65+) admitted permanently to residential accommodation per 10,000 people in Bristol has fallen from 106.6 in 2006/07 to 86.6 in March 2008. The total number of older people in Bristol in residential accommodation provided by the independent sector is 401.

In 2006, Bristol Council ACC was placing significantly more older people into residential care than comparator local authorities and correspondingly fewer older people were helped to stay at home with Home Care.

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