An ambitious project announced by the Welsh Assembly Government to provide a range of services for elderly people – including not-for-profit care homes designed to reduce financial pressure on the nation’s pensioners – has been postponed until at least 2011. Other services that had been planned under the One Wales agreement include nursing home beds, day care facilities and extra care housing. Now, the funding will be diverted and used to build affordable housing, because the Government feels that there is not enough time to complete the One Wales project. Charities and campaigners for the elderly have reacted to the news with dismay, with the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Ruth Marks, commenting: ‘We cannot accept the idea that funding allocated for ‘Not for profit’ homes should be reallocated to address housing affordability. This would mean that scarce resources would be redirected away from the older people in need of nursing care for whom they were originally designated.’ The Government’s commitment to completing the project is now on hold until after the 2011 elections.
posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
12:59
