Reassurance about Lincoln House

A special meeting of the Audlem Carers' Support Group was held last Thursday, after concerns had been raised that valuable services to carers at Lincoln House might change or cease (see articlehere). Cllr. Janet Clowes and Cllr. Rachel Bailey were welcomed to the meeting.

Cllr. Clowes confirmed that Residential respite will continue to be provided for all those who are formally assessed as needing this service. This is a statutory requirement.
Other forms of respite support are currently being explored such as day care, more support at home and 'Shared Lives' Services which may be extended to older people's services in due course.

Lincoln House currently provides a range of services of which respite care is just one. Respite services provided by Cheshire East are currently subject to a consultation that is due to be completed in October. We are hoping for the final report in November.

Currently 5,500 people are provided with formal, assessed care support in Cheshire East together with approximately 2,300 carers

Better Care Fund

The Council and two CCGs have submitted their submission to NHS England for 'Better Care Fund' which is allocated from NHS budgets to help care providers reduce pressures on hospitals and integrate services into the Community. In Cheshire East, this amounts to £23M from April 2015.

The Cheshire East Dementia Strategy has been approved by Cabinet and is now being developed. Policies arising from this will be consulted on in due course. Feedback from the CE residential respite consultation will also inform these policies.

The NHS currently commission intermediate care beds at Lincoln House
Cllr. Clowes thinks that Lincoln House is a good, well located resource and as such is likely to continue to offer a valuable resource in some form to the community.

Carers' Group comments

The Audlem Carers' Support Group had registered the following comments during the Lincoln House consultation prior to the meeting:-

• Much used by local carers including emergency and step-down situations.
• Very important in supporting carers with a locally based break.
• Avoids extra pressure on hospital beds.
• Finding respite in independent sector is near impossible.
• Lifeline for carers – having 40 days allocated in Lincoln House helps keep people in their own homes.
• Might the independent sector be approached to run Lincoln House?
• Closing Lincoln House would be a false economy as more people would have to go into long term care sooner.

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