PEOPLE across Argyll and Bute are being asked to help shape the future of care homes and services for older people as health and social care bosses consider how provision will need to change over the next 20 years.
Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) is launching a major community engagement programme amid warnings of a projected shortfall in residential care capacity as demand increases.
The consultation, which will run from August 31 until October 11, will consider a range of accommodation and support options, including supported living and residential care.
The HSCP says the aim is to develop a long-term vision for care across Argyll and Bute, including understanding where and how people would prefer to live as their needs change in later life.
A series of public events will take place as part of the programme, including a Dunoon drop-in session at the Argyll Suite in Queens Hall on Tuesday, October 6, from 11am until 3pm.
An event will also be held at the Bank of Ideas in Rothesay, alongside a Lochgilphead session and an online event on Monday, October 5.
The review comes against a backdrop of growing pressures on social care services, including an ageing population, increasing demand and difficulties recruiting and retaining staff.
According to the HSCP, those challenges are particularly significant in Argyll and Bute because of its rural and island geography.
An assessment of existing care homes and services has already been carried out and identified a number of challenges, including the potential shortage of residential care places as demand grows over the next two decades.
The HSCP says it now needs to develop a sustainable model capable of meeting future demand while ensuring facilities remain suitable and high-quality care can continue to be delivered.
The review will look beyond traditional residential care, however, considering the different types of accommodation and support people may want as they grow older.
Population analysis will be used alongside feedback from communities, partners and other stakeholders to help determine what future provision should look like.
Nicola Gillespie, Argyll and Bute HSCP’s Head of Service for Complex Care and Registered Services, said: Managing care for older people, particularly in rural locations, is extremely complex, and we need community input to help ensure that the most appropriate solutions are identified and that people continue to receive the highest quality of care in the future.
Public involvement will support more informed and constructive decision-making, helping to achieve the best possible outcomes.
We also welcome innovative ideas from local people on how services could be developed and improved, based on their own experiences.
Ms Gillespie said the partnership needed to ensure future care provision was both sustainable and affordable.
She added: We must ensure that we can meet future care needs, and by working together to identify the right solutions, we can deliver significant and far-reaching benefits.
We seek to ensure the availability of appropriate, high-quality facilities and services that are efficient, sustainable, and affordable for years to come.
As well as attending the public sessions, residents will be able to take part through an online survey and other feedback activities on the HSCP’s Engagement Hub.
Comments can also be submitted directly to the partnership by emailing [email protected].
Members of the project team will attend the public events to provide information, answer questions and hear views on how care services for older people should be provided in the years ahead.
