Cabinet approves new vision for short term and respite care

Cheshire West and Chester Council's Cabinet has approved plans for an improved model for short term / respite care services within the borough.

The new model will see the closure of Sutton Beeches, Leftwich Green and Curzon House to enable reinvestment into a wider range of person-centred, flexible and locally provided services for service-users and carers, delivered closer to home and within their communities.

Under the new model service-users and carers will be able to choose from a range of options including:

• The offer of a direct payment for service-users to receive funding to arrange their own support to be delivered in their own homes or in a residential home of choice either in the local community or near to a family member.
• Access to block booked short term/ respite beds in independent sector care homes, and
• The option of having care delivered in someone else’s home. This is known as Shared Lives, which focusses on providing a flexible, person centred service and encourages people to remain independent.

Councillor Val Armstrong, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, said: “Although it is always sad to have to close a facility, our service-users are increasingly looking for a different model of care as shown by the drop in the number of people accessing these facilities within recent years.

“The new model offers greater personal choice, flexibility and control to service-users and carers, responds to their individual needs, and is delivered closer to home within their local community.

“By releasing funding committed to operating these buildings we can provide a much wider range of options and choice for service-users and carers to access as well as ensuring the long-term sustainability of short term / respite care and wider Adult Social Care services across the borough.

Charlotte Walton, Director of Adult Social Care, said: “We want to thank all our staff at Sutton Beeches/Leftwich Green and Curzon House for the dedication and high level of quality care they have continued to provide our service-users.

“We also want to thank our service-users, their families and carers for their feedback which has helped design the new offer for short term and respite care in west Cheshire and for their continued patience throughout the consultation period.”

Plans will now be progressed to explore alternative employment opportunities for staff currently based at each facility and to fully develop proposals for the buildings, which are due to close by the end of December 2021.

The Council is working closely with current service-users and carers to explore all options for their preferred choice of future short term / respite care provision.

If you are a resident or carer and would like to know more about short term / respite care services in Cheshire West and Chester please contact accesswest@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk or call us on 0300 123 7034.