25
September
2012
|
13:07
Europe/London

Extra care housing gets seal of approval

The extra care housing facility at Greater Leys, Oxford, now boasts a range of new or upgraded facilities designed to help more people achieve their aim of living independently as they reach older age.
 
Dignitaries visited the former sheltered housing developments to see for themselves how investment and partnership working has helped to create these additional services which help residents in 156 homes, comprising a ‘core’ of two sheltered housing blocks surrounded by a ‘cluster’ of separate houses and flats, all within easy reach of each other.  
 
They were joined by existing residents, older people from local communities and professionals from care organisations who went along to get their first look at the new facilities and services.

24-hour emergency care response


Residents can take advantage of planned day-time care and a 24 hour emergency care response service. Oxfordshire County Council  has given a capital grant of £800,000 to build an on-site care team base, add further dining room space plus a kitchen and assisted bathroom in each of the large sheltered blocks. These works will be completed this month. A lunch-time meals service will start in October.
 
County Councillor Arash Fatemian, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet member for Adult Services, said: “This project is part of the county council’s commitment to promoting the independence of older people.
 
“The vast majority of people want to live as independently for as long as possible, but to do this you need the support and facilities in place. Extra care facilities like this one mean that people can continue to have their own homes and take advantage of extra help when they need it.
 
“To achieve this we have a long-term aim to have more than 900 extra care places in Oxfordshire. At the moment there are 400 and more than 150 of these are at the Greater Leys development.”

Vitally important

Andrew Smith MP said: “It is vitally important to provide more good quality accommodation enabling older people to live as independently as possible.  I am very pleased to be opening these improved facilities, which have benefitted from the involvement of residents in helping to decide what would work best for them.”
 
The scheme is managed by a partnership of Catalyst Housing and GreenSquare (formerly Oxford Citizens Housing Association), Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council. Allied Healthcare provide the care services.

Martin Mellors, Head of Supported Housing at GreenSquare, added: “We are delighted that this partnership is in place to deliver new and upgraded homes and services for older persons in order to be able to provide residents with a high level of service and care.

“Not only does this new Greater Leys development offer well-established properties designed specifically for older people, it also provides residents with the security and privacy of an affordable home of their own and access to a range of local facilities and activities.”

Notes:

GreenSquare is a major provider of housing, regeneration, care and support and commercial services across Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.  Our core business is building, managing and maintaining homes as well as supporting strong and stable communities.  As well as managing and improving our current 10,000 homes, we are providing a range of new ones.  These include homes for social and affordable rent, as well as homes for market rent and sale through our commercial subsidiary Oakus Estates and Haboakus, our joint venture with Kevin McCloud’s company Hab.

For more information, please visit www.greensquaregroup.com.


The scheme is managed by a partnership of Catalyst Communities Housing Association and Green Square (formerly Oxford Citizens Housing Association), Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council. Allied Healthcare provide the care services.