Report on Review of Supported Living for Older People in the context of Transforming your Care

Report-on-Review-of-Supported-Living-for-Older-People-in-the-context-of-Transforming-Your-Care.pdf (13.1 mb)

Background to the Review

In October 2013, the Committee for Health, Social Services and Public Safety agreed that scrutiny of the implementation of Transforming Your Care (TYC) would be one of its strategic priorities for the 2013/2014 Assembly session. It began this work by focusing on one particular programme of care – learning disability – and produced a report in January 2014. The Committee then selected older people as the next programme of care within Transforming Your Care on which to focus its attention.

The TYC Strategic Implementation Plan states that for older people, one of the significant changes and benefits of TYC which will be realised over the next 3 to 5 years is: “Community-based alternatives to residential care are increasing all the time, and there is a need to ensure that the availability and functioning of these is more widely known so that people can see the different styles of independent living that it is now possible to offer to older people, where the traditional response would have been to offer a residential placements. Due to improved availability of these types of community-based alternatives, it is expected that the demand for statutory residential homes will decline further” (Section 4.3.2 of the TYC Strategic Implementation Plan).

The Committee observed that the “shift left” outlined in TYC, whereby more services will be provided in people’s own homes or in community settings rather than in institutional settings, is also envisioned in terms of living options for older people. However, the Committee also noted that within the TYC Strategic Implementation Plan itself, there was an acknowledgement that alternative models to residential care, where the emphasis is on more independent living, are not widely known about by the public. Given this context, the Committee believed it would be useful to carry out a review into supported living options for older people. Furthermore, the Committee noted that the TYC Strategic Implementation Plan links greater availability of“community based alternatives”, such as supported living, to a reduced demand for statutory residential home places. Given that the future of statutory residential homes is a live issue and subject to ongoing public consultation, the Committee believed that supported living was a timely and relevant important subject to explore.

Click here to view the full report.