Work starts on Liverpool dementia hubs

Earthmoving work has started at two sites that form part of Liverpool City Council’s £30m plan for dementia care hubs and living spaces.

The services will be managed by health and social care provider Shaw Healthcare, in a contract signed with the city council for 25 years agreed after Shaw won a competitive tender last year.

Earthmovers are in at two sites: the £7.8m Dementia Hub on South Parade in Speke and at the £8.2m Venmore Dementia Centre on Hartnup Street, Anfield. Each centre will provide 60 bed spaces, along with facilities for people with dementia and other long-term residential and nursing care needs.

The developments will feature en-suite bedrooms, areas for therapy and socialising, dining facilities and gardens. A planning application has been submitted for a third dementia hub in Stonebridge.

Work has also begun on a £5.1m 35-bed stroke facility at Townsend Lane, Anfield. This centre replaces an existing one at Hartnup Street, which is being relocated to make way for the Venmore Centre.

The three facilities are each designed by Kier, with Willmott Dixon engaged as main contractor as part of the Scape National Framework.

Also included in the investment programme, building work has now been completed at Besford House in Belle Vale. The hub, which provides accommodation for adults with learning disabilities, has undergone an £900,000 makeover.

Liverpool City Council’s cabinet member for adult social care and health, Cllr Paul Brant, said: “The hubs will enable us to deliver a flexible service, tailored to the needs of the individual service-user.

“Our step-up, step-down approach means that the hubs can be used to support people with a lower level of need who would otherwise end up in hospital, as well as providing intermediate care to help get people out of hospital quicker.

“They will help reduce the number of people unnecessarily delayed in hospital following NHS treatment by getting and improve their experience of health and social care services by driving up quality standards.”

Shaw said that the project is likely to create more than 200 jobs as staff will be newly employed rather than being transferred from existing council services.

The firm’s deputy chief executive Suzanne Hughes said: “The three new dementia hubs – with a mix of short and long term beds – will provide modern, 21st century accommodation that will enable elderly and vulnerable residents to enjoy the best possible quality of life. In line with our core values, we are keen for all three hubs to become pivotal parts of their respective communities.”