Homes plan to plug care bed shortage
A council facing a shortage of care home beds into which hospital patients can be discharged and settings to provide respite opportunities for adults with assessed care needs looks set to extend a pilot scheme in which residents are paid about £50 a night to offer a room in their homes.
Leading North Yorkshire County Council officers and councillors will consider expanding the Care Rooms project, which was launched last year in Selby and York, to trial it across areas of the county which lack sufficient care provision to enable people to be discharged from hospital into a safe and local care setting.
Areas set to be included in thepilotincludeScarborough, Whitby,Ryedale,southHambleton and Richmond.
The scheme is aimed at anyone with a spare room and time to give an extra hand to those needing support with “minimal care needs” before moving back into their own home after surgery or a fall.
The impacts of Brexit, Covid-19, and the cost of living crisis on staffing levels in the care sector have been keenly felt in rural and coastal areas of the county.
In the summer the authority reported it was seeing more people staying in hospital longer than they need to due to the lack of available places to discharge patients who are not ready to be at home by themselves.
An officers’ report to an adult services meeting of the authority states Care Rooms “offers a unique and innovative approach to addressing ongoing pressures in the care market by harnessing the strengths, assets and resources that exist within local communities”.
It stated: “The pilot would support short breaks for struggling carers, and develop additional options and approaches
to facilitate hospital discharge.”
The council’s executive memberforadultservicesand health, Cllr Michael Harrison, said the authority was trying everything it can to improve the situation.
Cllr Harrison said: “It’s a great way for people to feel that they are giving something back to the community. We are really appreciative of people who would be willing to open up their homes to people, they will get their costs covered, it’s providing a really good service for people being discharged from hospital.
"If we find this works there’s no reason why this can not be rolled out in all areas.”