Building-based support will continue to play a vital role in providing high-need residential respite care under proposals for a revamp of the service in Swansea.
Members of the Council’s Health, Social Care and Well-being Overview Board will be seeing proposals at a meeting next week that say residential respite care will be offered for those in need of it.
Earlier this year the Board recommended that the Council end its one-size-fits-all approach to respite care and replace it with a more flexible approach that gives users choice in the services they get.
It also recommended that the Council should consider ceasing to use the respite care provision at Earlsmoor so resources could be used to develop new, flexible and innovative models of provision.
In an update report to the board next week Nick Tregoning, Cabinet Member for Social Services, said that the proposals now on the table were a response to the board’s report.
He said: “May’s report was a far-sighted one which clearly grasped the challenges and opportunities for respite care in future years. The board’s in-depth report consulted a wide range of individuals and organisations before reaching their conclusions.
“Now it’s important to move ahead with the plans to prepare the way to deliver the range of choices that people say they want when it comes to respite care.”
Mary Pitson, Director of Age Concern Swansea, supported the Council’s plans to transform the service and to give people more choice about the way they receive respite care.
She said: “From our point of view the most important thing is that elderly people are supported to stay in their own homes. What we want to ensure is that people feel safe and well and they have independence and choice over the kind of care they receive, which is suitable to them and their family.
“This is a very innovative approach by the Council to consider a variety of options and to be available where it is needed. If Earlsmoor is closed older people will need to be assured that their needs will be considered.
“When it comes to care, most people prefer to remain in their own homes with suitable services to support them maintain independence and dignity.”
