Time for action

Meeting the care and support needs of our ever-ageing population has long been a topic of discussion but a workable solution seems to be lacking. Meanwhile the population isn’t getting any younger. Michelle Mckenna reports

In the words of Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, by 2026 the number of 85 year olds is projected to double, it is estimated that 1.7 million more people will have a potential care need than today and one in five 65 year olds today will need care costing more than £50,000.

The figures speak for themselves – the number of older people in the UK is rising and their needs will have to be accommodated.

But, it is not that simple. There is a lack of provision and even where retirement housing is on offer, it is not always suited to the needs of today’s older generation.

“It is going to be very difficult to deliver social care if you don’t have the right housing,” says Joe Oldman, housing policy adviser at charity Age UK . “I think it is really important that we look at alternatives to residential care homes and look at housing solutions which maximise people’s independence, that give them a tenancy and some level of control but at the same time is able to guarantee a certain level of care and support.”

While new developments aimed at older people, including state of the art Extra Care facilities, have been built in recent years, there are not enough places and with this new period of austerity, funding for future schemes seems unlikely.

The new Government appears to have recognised that there is an issue. Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said urgent reform of the social care system is at the top of the agenda following the recent launch of the Commission on the Funding of Care and Support, hailed as “the first step towards creating a sustainable care and support system for all adults that puts individuals and their families at its heart.”

The commission will consider funding ideas including voluntary insurance and partnership schemes and examine and provide recommendations on: the best way to meet care and support costs as a partnership between individuals and the state; how an individual’s assets are protected against the cost of care; how public funding for the care and support system can be best used to meet needs and how to deliver the preferred option including implementation timescales and impact on local government.

Lansley spoke of developing a fair funding system for adult care and support that offers choice, provides value for money and is sustainable for the public finances in the long term. He expects to see legislation in front of Parliament next year.

There seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to providing homes for our older residents, those who believe that specialist provision is the way forward, and the camp for supporting people to stay in their “family” homes for as long as possible. Currently around 90 per cent of older people in the UK live in general needs housing and it’s widely assumed that many prefer to stay in family homes as they age.

However, research by the Housing our Ageing Population Panel for Innovation (HAPPI) in 2009 suggested this is not always the case. The panel noted from its visits to European housing schemes that some countries showed very different approaches towards housing and care compared to the UK . In fact, it is often the case that the priorities that led people to choose their homes are no longer their priorities in old age and there are few alternatives for those who want to move.

For many the answer lies in building homes that will be suitable for people should their circumstances change, rather than treating general needs and retirement housing as two separate entities.

Age UK has been involved in setting up the Foundation for Lifetime Homes and Neighbourhoods with Habinteg Housing Association, Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation (RADAR), and the Town and Country Planning Association.

The partnership was formed to promote the Lifetime Homes Standard (LHS) and to campaign for well-designed, thoughtful and fit for purpose housing developments, which it says is desperately needed to meet the demands of the UK’s ageing population and affordable housing shortage. The Lifetime Homes Standard is a set of 16 design criteria for building accessible and adaptable homes, covering areas such as the location of switches and sockets, turning space for wheelchairs and whether a property is well-constructed enough to take a stair-lift.

Some developers argue that the additional cost and red tape involved in building Lifetime Homes is too much but Oldman believes that it would save money in the longer term.“The Government figures say it costs something like £500 per property to implement the design standards, so we would say that is not a lot to pay for the kind of savings you would have,” he says.

“There has been a shift towards saying that people should be able to live independently in their own home and receive care there. W hat we say is, unless you have housing designed to enable that, it is not going to happen. “Unless we address this problem it is going to cost everybody more in the years to come.”

So that brings us back ultimately to where we started, we all know what the issue is and it would seem that there are a number of viable options out there but action seems to be lacking. As the phrase goes actions speak louder than words so maybe it is time to close down the talking shop and open the toolbox.