Liverpool approves £30m dementia hub programme
Three 60-bed social care facilities for adults are set to open across Liverpool by 2020, following the approval of the plans by the city council at the latest cabinet meeting.
The centres will bring modern accommodation and care for people living with dementia and other long-term residential and nursing care needs in the north, south and central areas of the city.
The first, to open in summer 2019, will be at the Venmore Rehabilitation Hub in Anfield, where the existing 24-bed stroke service will be relocated to a new 35-bed facility on Townsend Lane from spring 2019.
A second will be on disused playing fields at the former Parklands High School, close to Speke district centre, opening in autumn 2019. The third site’s location is to be confirmed, but is pencilled in for completion in spring 2020.
Planning consent is being secured for the three facilities, each designed by Kier. Construction will be undertaken by Willmott Dixon as part of the Scape National Framework.
Liverpool currently spends around £50m a year on residential and nursing care, plus a further £11m on dementia and memory loss services. The new hubs will have en-suite bedrooms, areas for therapy and socialising, dining facilities and gardens.
Also approved is the refurbishment of Besford House in Gateacre, with the council in the final stages of arranging a lease for Alternative Futures to run the facility.
The council is borrowing the money to build the centres with the repayments covered by income from the leases on each site, while Besford House is being refurbished using an £850,000 grant from NHS England.
Cabinet member for adult social care and health, Cllr Paul Brant, said: “We have invested heavily in creating new social care hubs across the city in recent years, but more people are living longer and we need to make sure we have sufficient capacity in the social care system to meet the needs of people with dementia and other long-term care needs.
“This is against a backdrop of rising demand, massive cuts to our budget and increasing pressure on the NHS.
“The facilities we are creating will help ease pressure on other areas of the NHS which are under constant strain. Importantly, they will save the public purse money by ensuring that people aren’t tying up more expensive hospital beds.
“We have been careful to make sure that they are flexible facilities that can meet surges in demand and help to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and delays in ward discharges.
“Separately, we are committing to the future of Besford House, improving it to make sure that adults with learning disabilities and autism have good quality accommodation to live in.”
Shaw Healthcare was selected as the preferred provider for the dementia hubs project last year following a competitive tender process
Suzanne Hughes, deputy chief executive of Shaw, said: “The visualisations are fantastic and really bring the project to life. The ergonomic considerations factored into the architecture means that those who use the service are in the ideal environment to receive the best person-centred care possible.”
