Cabinet members have approved an innovative new approach to daytime community services for older people in the borough.
The plans include the development of a range of ‘community cafes’ offering social activities and support for older people and their carers.
Two community cafés should be in operation by April 2011, with plans for a café or hub to be available in each locality of the borough by December 2011.
As well as offering a range of activities and befriending services, their aim is to identify local community leaders to act as champions for community development and to identify and engage socially isolated older people.
The plans also include transferring the daytime services currently offered at the Moorlands building in Porthcawl to Bridgend’s Minerva Street Centre which will now open for longer on Saturdays.
Cabinet members were told that the Moorlands building, whose lease expires in March, suffers from significant limitations meaning that people with poor mobility or personal care needs are prevented from using the service, while its isolated site at Rest Bay makes it unsuitable for community café use.
Now a project group has been set up to ensure that the 11 existing users of Moorlands will be able to access the same level of service at Minerva Street, while the existing community café in Porthcawl, which is operated by Bridgend and District Crossroads, will also be supported to extend its days of operation.
A Big Lottery bid for £200,000 to provide a befriending scheme to support the development of the community cafes is being coordinated by partners in BAVO, while the overall review and reshaping of day services provision is likely to generate an initial £100k in efficiency savings for the authority. More…
Councillor Lyn Morgan, Cabinet Member for Wellbeing, said: “We know that the number of people past retirement age is increasing year on year. We must respond to this by providing services which offer meaningful and appealing social and leisure activities, especially for people who find themselves alone.
“We are trying to refocus the way we approach our day services and make it less about buildings and more about flexible and innovative community-based services which we can deliver with the help of our partners, especially the third sector. We’re extremely grateful for the support of groups such as Crossroads which provide such an invaluable service.”
He added: “Today we have agreed to take forward a new tiered approach to day services for older people which address every level of need, from socialising and accessing services to a more intensive level of support and intervention when people might have a greater need.
“I believe this is a really positive and efficient way forward and shows our genuine commitment to working in a more inclusive and flexible way for the older people of this borough.”
