Care home provision in Plymouth to get shake up

Not enough homes are meeting demands of population

Care home provision in Plymouth is to get a shake up after it was revealed that there are not enough facilities meeting the demands of people with more complex needs or younger residents.

Plymouth City Council says it needs to reconsider how it commissions care homes to cater for the population and has extended current contracts for a year to allow it to redesign the service.

Cabinet members were told by officers this week that there was an oversupply of standard residential beds and the current mix of residential and nursing beds is “not fit for purpose”.

More focus is needed on people with complex dementia or mental health, those struggling with extreme obesity, complex physical health needs and those with breathing and lung problems.

During the next year the council will engage with care home providers and users to come up with a new service that addresses the gaps in the care home market.

Head of commissioning Emma Crowther said provision for the over 85s is “very different” to what is needed for the under 45s

In the past 18 months, six under-65 care homes in the city have closed because of financial issues, inadequate CQC ratings, lack of professional support and complexity of needs.

The vast majority of the 89 care homes in the city were in the independent sector and owned by small and medium sized businesses who may lack access to capital to remodel their facilities, particularly when most of them were Victorian houses, councillors were told.

Emma Crowther said: “Our care home providers work tirelessly and we are very grateful for their commitment and support but before we put new contracts in place we need to take some time to see where the focus should be.

“We need to make some really big changes in the types of beds because we realise we do not have the right types of beds for the future.”

She said the council needed to look at care for dementia patients and how care homes linked with hospital discharges.

Cllr Mark Lowry (Lab, Southway) said he welcomed a closer look into care home provision as there had been an 16 per cent increase in the number of over 85s in the city.

Cllr Sue Dann (Lab, Sutton and Mount Gould) questioned whether people would have the right skills to deliver what is needed and was told that any skill shortages would be addressed.

Cabinet member for health and adult social care Cllr Mary Aspinall (Lab, Sutton and Mount Gould) said it was important to remember that care homes are not just for older people, as many younger people are also in care homes.

“We are making sure we get the best out of the market for our population,” she said.

Plymouth City Council works with NHS Devon ICB partners to commission and monitor care home services. The current contract value is approximately £50 million a year.