Extra Care or Sheltered Accommodation but who is the winner
Rhondda Cynon Taf Council says they want to modernize care for older people and produced a “Residential Care Services Consultation” shown below.
Modernising care for older people in Rhondda Cynon Taf – you can now have your say on proposals for residential care and daycare. Find out more about the consultation here:
Residential care: http://socsi.in/fKBFX
Daycare: http://socsi.in/A1vV4
So what’s it all about is it about Rhondda Cynon Taf Council closing down all care homes they own and run? Can the council be trusted or not?
Let's just take Maesyffynnon Care Home in Aberaman for an example, back in October 2015 the story was put out by the council saying a Cynon Valley care home will temporarily close to enable urgent work to ensure its ageing heating system does not break down this winter.
There were a few options the council would close the home for 22 weeks and the cost of refurbishment would be up to £1m.
Did the council reopen the Care Home, not likely it demolish it instead, a report in Walesonline said, “A Cynon Valley care home, which was temporarily closed because of an ageing heating system, is now unlikely to reopen – but could get a £7m transformation into a housing scheme for 40 people who need extra care.” A six-week consultation on the preferred option will now be started.
Maesyffynnon Care Home was an excellent facility in Aberaman the residents were well looked after the staff were excellent it was a good facility, so now there will be 40 units built on the same site with the council calling them “Extra Care’ units.
So why are the council calling them extra care? When basically they are just Sheltered Accommodation units run by private contractor Linc-Cymru Housing Association Ltd and Linc say,
“Each extra care scheme has a dedicated Linc Service Manager, who liaises with care providers and ensures that the housing, care and support needs of our customers are met. In all schemes, a care provider is also based on site 24 hours.”
So what is the labour run Rhondda Cynon Taf Council getting out of it? Now the facility is privately run no maintenance or staffing cost and according to the council each unit is subject to pay council tax but the council say, you may be able to get help “towards the cost of rent and service charge and council tax”.
The building in Club Street Aberaman the council says “building would be larger than anything in its immediate vicinity, it is considered that the impact of its scale and height would not have so great an impact as to be considered detrimental to the character and appearance of the area.” Would the council say anything to get a 40 unit building in a small area?
There is insufficient parking on the site the proposed development requires up-to a maximum of 27 off-street car parking spaces with only 24 provided and The Transportation Section have not identified the junction of Club Street and Cardiff Road as problematic. But that’s not taking into account the hundreds of new houses planned for the old Blaengwawr Comprehensive School site.
We are all getting older what the council are doing may not affect you directly right now but think on you are getting older and one day you may need the services the council are cutting. The council keep saying they have no money but can still find £2 million for a vanity bridge in Ponty and now your paying for councillors Internet laptop and tablet and your council tax is always going up year on year.
