Coronavirus underlines need for more homes for older people in Northumberland, says expert

The coronavirus crisis has underlined the need to build homes for Northumberland’s ageing population to ease the burden on the NHS, a property expert has said.

Newcastle-based planning and design consultancy Barton Willmore has suggested that building new types of homes to accommodate Northumberland’s increasing proportion of older people could drastically alleviate future pressure on the NHS.

Figures released at the end of March by the Office for National Statistics project that 32.7% of Northumberland’s population will be 65-plus by 2043, up from 24.3% in 2018. The 30% mark will be reached by 2030.

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James Hall, partner at Barton Willmore, said: “The current coronavirus situation has put into sharp focus the absolute need to protect capacity in the NHS, and the timing of these latest population projections underlines that.

“In the next 23 years, we’re going to see significantly more people of retirement age – and at the moment we simply don’t have the housing to allow people to live as independently as possible with various complex health needs.

“There are already developers providing new types of properties that fit those needs. However, we need to build many more like them to make sure Northumberland provides a sustainable way of living for the big population changes that are headed our way.”

The ‘extra care’ housing types being highlighted combine accommodation with care services and also help to alleviate loneliness by providing shared lounges and dining facilities. An existing example in the county is Weavers Court in Alnwick.

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Mr Hall added: “It’s clear that we need to keep people out of hospital as much as possible, and to improve the rehabilitation of patients.

“That means we’ll need to think creatively and strategically about how patients can be accommodated in the community, at home, where care may need to be delivered.”

Northumberland County Council’s cabinet approved a new extra care and supported housing strategy in June 2018, with the aim of bringing forward a range of new models of support to help people live more independent lives.

However, during the final hearing session as part of the examination stage earlier this year, concerns were expressed as to whether Northumberland’s Local Plan meets the housing needs of the county’s growing older population.

A senior council planner said that the plan, supported by the extra care strategy, aims to provide flexibility and address need across the whole plan period from 2016 to 2036.