Grant boost for elderly and disabled
Northumberland County Council’s adult services have welcomed the announcement of the Government’s New Deal which provides an opportunity to help elderly and disabled residents stay in their own home.
Under the New Deal, Northumberland is set to receive £169,000 in additional funding to give elderly and people with disabilities more choice and control over where they live and ensure that their home are suitable for their needs.
The Government have announced that they will be providing £10.3m to the region’s 12 local authorities to fund home adaptations with an additional £1.3m for disabled facilities grants.
Councillor Ian Lindley, executive member for adult care and wellbeing said: “It is important for the happiness and wellbeing of our most vulnerable residents to be able to live independently in their own homes.
“Our focus is on preventing them having to move away from their friends, families and communities by ensuring that they receive support to make sure that their homes is suitable for their needs.”
He added: “Sometimes, a small adaptation or extra monitoring equipment in the home can improve a person’s wellbeing enormously and can prevent the necessity for them having to rely on traditional caring support, for example when they are discharged from hospital or having to consider moving home.
“We want to help people live as independent lives as possible and will do this by providing the best possible services that support independent living and enable them to enjoy the best quality of life.”
The Government has given £51m towards handypersons services, and is extending support for Home Improvement Agencies who will provide help and advice to older and disabled people, housing associations and charities.
This includes housing advice, help to move to more suitable accommodation if needed, small home repairs, home safety and security adaptations, energy efficiency advice and arranging for adaptations and home repairs to be made, including grab rails, stair-lifts and major work such as ground floor extensions.
These agencies also offer hospital discharge services - ensuring older people leaving hospital care are given the support they need to be able to recuperate in the comfort of their own homes.
Meanwhile, Northumberland residents are being given the chance to give their views and opinions on care and support services in the county.
In the next few weeks Northumberland County Council and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust will be asking Northumberland residents who receive care and support services arranged through Northumberland Adult Social Services for their views and experiences of these services through a postal survey.
The purpose of the survey is to improve and develop the services and support that is available by finding out how well it has helped ill and disabled people to live safely and independently, how well choice and control has been promoted and if services have had an impact on the quality of life for their users.
This is the second year this survey has been conducted and the information is used not only locally to help improve things in Northumberland, but also nationally by the government to get a better overall picture of social care provision for adults in England.
The last survey revealed that in Northumberland 93 per cent of people who responded were satisfied with the care and support services they receive as compared to 90 per cent of people who responded nationally.
However, just under half of the respondents in Northumberland felt that their quality of life was either good, very good, or so good it couldn’t be better, as compared to 57 per cent nationally and so the council and the trust are keen to do more work to better understand and meet the needs of local people to improve their quality of life.
Coun Lindley said: “Your honest opinion is really important in helping us find out where we need to work to improve services and support to enable all out people to live life to the full.
“As a council we are committed to improving the quality of life and wellbeing of our communities. I ask that if you do receive a questionnaire please take the time to share with us all your views and experiences.”
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Weather for Berwick-Upon-Tweed
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
