|
42 Housing with care
Housing with care Over the last 20 years a range of new models of housing for later life has been developed to help bring care services closer to residents. Some care home owners took advantage of adjacent available land to build bungalows to rent or sell to retired people keen to live in proximity to care services. New models also arose in response to the growing care needs of an ageing and increasingly frail population within sheltered and retirement housing schemes. Whilst care homes and care homes with nursing are well defined by statute, housing with care remains free of such control. There are, therefore, no official definitions of terms such as sheltered housing, very sheltered housing, retirement housing, assisted living, extra care housing, or housing with care.
What is housing with care? Broadly speaking, housing with care is housing designed with the needs of frail older people in mind, and with varying levels of care and support on site. Housing means the privacy of one’s own selfcontained home, one’s own front door, and a contractual security of tenure – none of which are available in care homes. The term housing with care is commonly understood to cover all forms of housing offering one or more services in addition to the availability of an on-site scheme manager or ‘warden’. These additional services are provided or facilitated by the managing organisation or by appointed contractors.
They can include one or more of the following: • Regular meals in a dining room or restaurant. • Assistance to help residents obtain and receive care services. • Visiting care staff. • On-site care staff. • On-site care home (generally called close care). When a retirement housing scheme offers on-site personal care - the kind of services available in a residential care home (care home without nursing), such a scheme is more likely to be called Extra Care housing, a model promoted by the Department of Health.
‘The term housing with care is commonly understood to cover all forms of housing offering one or more services in addition to the availability of an on-site scheme manager or ‘warden’.’
Who is it for?
Housing with care is intended to help older people to continue living independently in their own home. It particularly suits: • People whose home cannot be adapted to meet their physical needs or for carers. • Couples with one partner in need of care support. • People wanting to maintain their independence but in a setting where care services are available. • People who could arrange for care services to be delivered into their own home, but are looking for the social life available in specialist housing.
select
CARE
H E L P L I N E
Common sense suggests that well-being in later life is likely to depend on some advance planning. Unfortunately too many crucial decisions are made in times of crisis, after a fall or a hospital admission. Housing with care should be an option of choice for those who can anticipate or foresee what services they or their partner will be likely to need in five or 10 years. A free interactive tool is available online at http://hoop.eac.org.uk enabling you to explore your options for moving or staying put.
Choosing and funding care | 0800 38 92 077
Advice for older people