5:17pm Friday 3rd October 2008
By Tom Moseley
MORE care provision is needed in Lancashire within the next five years to avoid an “age timebomb”.
Lancashire County Council bosses revealed they face a race against time to bridge a demographic gap caused by rising numbers of older people.
The county council hopes to provide an extra 1,500 care home places for Lancashire overall and also to increase the independent financial advice available to older people.
Plans to provide extra care will also focus on high levels of support for people in their own homes, which can be on specialist estates, pension villages or in existing neighbourhoods.
Extra cash is needed to put these plans in place so the county council is trying to enlist support from district councils, housing associations and the NHS in joint approaches to Whitehall for finances.
The proposals follow a nine-month in-depth probe by watchdog Overview and Scrutiny county councillors which included visits to existing schemes in other parts of the country.
Chair of the scrutiny committee Coun Bob Pendleton, said: “Everyone gets old.
"Everyone has parents. Everyone needs the peace of mind of knowing that their needs will be met and that their later years will be comfortable and worry-free.
“All councils, housing associations and the NHS need to unite to agree future needs and then to raise the money.”
Other proposals are for new-build homes to be adaptable for people’s changing needs as they age.
Ensuring that walls can support stairlifts and that doors are suitable for wheelchairs will make it possible for future generations to stay in their homes for longer, the council said.
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