Proposals that will transform choice for elderly people seeking respite care in Swansea have been approved by the Council’s Cabinet.
The decision means that over the coming months and years the Council will be offering a whole range of innovative services to those seeking respite care and their families.
Carers will have the chance to pick and choose from a wide range of services including short breaks with foster families, time out away from home and residential respite care.
Following the decision the Council will now be working with agencies, voluntary organisations, carers and their families to devise individual packages of care for each person needing the service.
They’ve been developed to meet demand for a wider range of respite services now and in future years when there will be more people in need and fewer carers available.
Consultation on the proposals has taken more than 18 months and has won the approval of the authority’s Health, Social Care and Well-Being Overview Board.
The proposals will mean that the Earlsmoor residential respite care unit will close. However, Cllr Nick Tregoning, Cabinet Member for Social Services, has pledged that the service provided at Earlsmoor will continue until other residential respite services are up and running.
He said: “This is an important step. Cabinet has agreed to new services that will give people the choice they need and deserve. But it doesn’t mean Earlsmoor will close overnight. It will take time. Earlsmoor will remain open until I’m satisfied that alternative residential respite care is in place.”
Cllr Tregoning added: “The wide-ranging consultations we’ve done has already made a significant contribution to our proposals for future services. The consultation says loudly and clearly that the one-size-fits-all approach is not what people want any more- if they ever did.
“Quite reasonably, people want to choose the kind of respite care they receive. They want to select from a range of options that may include, for example, care in their own homes, care away from home with friends or relatives or care away from home in a residential unit.”
“These changes recognise and respond to the fact that when it comes to respite care Swansea’s older citizens deserve the same choice, quality and modern standards they have come to expect in every other part of their lives.”
