£200 million to be spent?!

[bowlingbun]

I've just turned on my laptop this morning to see that the government is going to spent £200 million on building adapted homes for the elderly and disabled to keep them in their own homes for longer. (msn news). Is this really what is needed to keep carees in their own homes? Is it really what carers want?

[g.herschel]

I think it is aimed at people living alone , for me it will not be of much use, who will be entitled to such a new build disabled friendly home ? i cant see a home owner being offered such a home and if the elderly are in social housing those who are alone in a 2,3,4,bed home will be given first choice, to free up homes for families and in the long run it is cheaper to care for just 15 minutes a day within the home then tp place someone in a residential care home ..

[Booksey]

In principal its a good idea the amount of available adapted housing is very small. We own our own home and would have been able to apply for adapted social housing if it was available but there are no 3 bed bungalows (with wet rooms etc) in the local social housing stock

Even though it sounds a lot of money I wonder how many actual properties that translates to and where would they be located.?

[malc]

our extension for a bedroom and wetroom was £30k,what a fantastic,life changing and normality creating thing it was to,the wife can wander in and out,never have to worry about getting upstairs again and think her life is normal.people should be in their own homes because institutions don't work,it been proven over the years.

[bowlingbun]

Malc,
I now sleep in "the garage" beautifully converted for me by my son after a car accident ruined my knees. My son and his partner have the upstairs of the house, they could convert one room to a kitchen but there's no real need to, as the downstairs one is big enough for all of us. I'd go along with the "life changing" experience. Together we can afford and enjoy living in the long term family home. On my own, I would be unable to stay here. We paid for our own conversion, it cost a fraction of a new build.

[malc]

bowlingbun,so basically what we're saying is the government has had a good idea,they already convert and extend where they can through the hia,this must be aimed at for example terraced houses which can't be altered and has mr herschel says people in houses too big for them,which will have a knock on effect on waiting lists for families,are you ringing the bbc news to inform them that the government have finally come up with a good idea or shall i!

[bowlingbun]

Actually, when I put the details of this on the site, I was thinking that perhaps £200m spent directly on supporting carers maintain their caring role would benefit more of the most frail and elderly (i.e. those most likely to need residential care) rather than building a relatively small number of new homes.

[Booksey]

surely helping people remain independent in their own homes for as long as possible does help carers. When our adaptations finally get done (perhaps when hell freezes over) the advantages for me will be just much as those for my hubby who they are intended for

[bowlingbun]

My understanding is that it is to be spent on new homes, not adaptations - and I love my own adaptation, although self funded.

[g.herschel]

due to memans testing we had to pay for nearly all of the disability aids we had fitted from Newcastle city council we paid for the bath lift, ramps , stair lift ( with help from the Royal Engineers ) lifting recliner chair the only thing they gave us free was 6 grab rails which i had to refit myself...when STAN had just a couple of months of his life left they gave us a hoist and titlting bed ....and yes the cash is for new built homes ...all 50 of them...............