Another tough day's travelling. I spent so many hours cramped in the back of the car next to Mr Harding that I had to coin the phrase "deep vaughan thrombosis". The distances may not be far in the UK by our standards but the traffic is unbelievable and you get stuck on the ring road of every town.
We started in the beautiful heritage city of Bath and then contrasted that with our first visit in the industrial North. We visited Heald Farm Court run by a major nfp called Helena Living. It was an extra care facility (independent living with in house support services) where some 90 units had been developed. It was architecturally beautiful with great outdoor courtyards. The units were OK by our standards. They had done a good job of balancing a sense of security for residents with welcoming in the outside community.
Once again, this development had been supported in the main part by government grants of various forms. They had a rent revenue of 180 pounds per unit versus our likely revenue of one hundred and forty pounds for a rental unit BUT they only have to service a small proportion of the capital cost.
They don't seem to be getting the design of extra care facilities right. The idea is that they are independent living with in-house support as opposed to our hostels which are supported living with some independence. These extra care facilities still seem institutional with some long corridors and prominent handrails and this undermines the proposition that this is really independent living.
I do like one design aspect that is emerging. In extra care facilities, some places put those with greater care needs closer to the hub and those with lower needs further away. This helps provide people with the balance between peace of mind and independence that they might like.
We then drove up to a slum area of Burnley, a very depressed town in Lancashire. We visited a 40 unit new sheltered housing development - that's independent living with support from a warden. In this case, it is a virtual warden who doesn't live on site.
This place is interesting because it is part of an urban renewal program where the classic rows of northern terraces are being demolished.
The design is modern and funky. The process of design was highly consultative and the outcome very reflective of prospective residents' wishes. Again, this development was supported by significant government grants. Following consultation with the intended users, a community room was not included but rather an inner courtyard area for each grouping of 4 flats. People wanted to socialise in small groups and not en masse.
Amusingly here, the Police security improvement unit had insisted that external railings be fitted. Before the railings were there they had no problems and then, once they were erected, the kids had a challenge and started jumping over them.
We finished off at the unbelievable historic city of York. I must have spent the first thirty years of my life in the UK with my eyes closed.
We were buggered by the time we got there and my knees would not bend back into the stright position.
Bye for now.
Ray
Interesting re the community room vs courtyard. Perhaps providing both gives flexibility to the residents.
ReplyDeleteI remember from my Grandmother-in-law's experience that there were clusters of small houses in a street that were provided for social housing and they had a nurse and social worker do the rounds on a daily basis. From what I saw it was very low density which stifled a lot of the interaction between residents, so it sounds like things are changing.
Bath-Burnley-York, that is a fair bit of country covered - in relative terms!
Pete
I can see the value in small social areas - it would alleviate the feeling of institutional care. Having said that, it might also be the cause of problems if the small group contained personality conflicts. Maybe it would make sense to have a common area everyone could access (or escape to).
ReplyDeleteSome of the better residential care facilities in the USA, i.e. the more expensive places, use the same model where rooms are assigned according to mobility.
Guys
ReplyDeleteThe power group of aged care is clearly making an impact. On to other questions - the standard of wine - are you drinking french.
No doubt "deep bone"is keeping ip a steady stream of important comments.
Australia still has Gillard in Government but I will keep you posted on any changes to that.
Sarah is spreading the word on twitter and the infamy or otherwise of the inncredible three is growing.
AS Ray once said. If I was there instead of Glenn it would be Stevie Ray Vaughan.
I am located presently in Clarke Quay, Singa's with a beer and pizza about to arrive.
Great blog - look forward to further updates
Stephen K