£21m for Liverpool’s care home provision

Liverpool City Council is set to sign a £21 million deal with Shaw healthcare to build three new residential care homes and improve services for people with dementia.

The facilities, which can host 50 patients each, will open by the end of 2019 and will provide state-of-the art accommodation and care for people living with dementia, as well as those with other long term residential and nursing care needs.

An estimated 1,300 people are currently in commissioned dementia placements, a figure that represents nearly 60 per cent of all residential social care admissions for people aged over 65.

Two sites have already been confirmed at the Venmore Rehabilitation Hub in Anfield and disused playing fields at the former Parklands High School, with a number of sites under consideration for a third centre in the north of the city.

Shaw healthcare was selected as the preferred provider for the project and will develop skills and training programmes, offer local employment opportunities and create work placements and apprenticeships across all facilities.

Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool, said: “The decision to invest in three purpose-built care homes that will offer residential and nursing dementia beds and carer respite is part of our invest to save strategy and will help ease pressure on other, more costly parts of the health service such as hospital beds, and save the public purse money. Crucially, they will also act as flexible care hubs that can meet surges in demand and help to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and delays in ward discharges.”