New adult social care ‘hubs’ planned for Liverpool
The biggest transformation of adult social care in Liverpool for more than 60 years is set to gather pace with the creation of two new centres in the north and south of the city.
Liverpool City Council's cabinet will be asked to approve proposals today to redesign and refurbish the Lancaster Centre, Rice Lane, North Liverpool and the Speke Resource Centre, Parklands, South Liverpool, to create two new community ‘hubs’.
Open 12-hours-a-day, seven days a week, the hubs will provide intensive health and social care support for people with complex needs and placements for people coming out of care. They will also provide advice on employment and housing and serve as a place for people to meet and hold events.
The Lancaster Centre (North hub) and Speke Resource Centre (South hub) will complete the council’s
plans for three twelve-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week care hubs, covering every part of the city.
Work is already underway on a Central hub, with the £500,000 refurbishment of Lime Court Day Centre in Kensington.
It’s the latest phase of the council’s £3.1 million overhaul of adult social care services, which is also seeing the creation of three 24/7 centres in the north, centre and south, providing a total of 85 intermediate care and respite beds, reablement and rehabilitation services and home-based support.
Sedgemoor Care Home in Norris Green, has been extended to become the first of these 24/7 centres, to support living with dementia; Venmore Care Home, L5, will be developed to support stroke victims; and Granby Care Home, L8, will be a generic service to care for people who have suffered a fall, with a particular emphasis on supporting black and ethnic minority groups.
Together, the three 24/7 and three 12/7 centres will replace the existing model of 12 day centres and three residential care homes, and will support the council’s transformation of adult social care, which will be fully implemented by 2013. It will focus the council on meeting people’s individual needs, rather than them having to choose from a fixed menu of social care services which are becoming increasingly less popular.
Councillor Roz Gladden, the city council’s cabinet member for adult social care and health said: “These new centres are part of our wider plans to transform the way people across Liverpool access and receive care. It’s about us delivering tailor-made, modern services which respond to people’s individual strengths, aspirations and ambitions as well as their needs.
“Our six hubs will create a circle of health and social care support for vulnerable people in the heart of our communities. They will support our plans for a new adult social care model which focuses on dignity, respect, choice, quality of care and support, value for money and individual control.
“The demand for our traditional services has been shrinking for a number of years, and it’s vital we respond to that, so that we can provide the type of services people want. Everything the council is doing is about delivering 21st century services, providing a more person-centred approach, focusing on rehabilitation and working more effectively with the PCT and our other partners.
“We know these are big changes, and that’s why we’ve consulted closely with service users and carers over these plans. They’ve been involved at every step of the way, and have played a huge part in deciding where the centres will be located, as well as what activities will be offered. We will continue to place the people who matter – the people who use our services – at the heart of all the decisions we make.”
