At the sitting of the House of Keys on 7 February 2012, the Minister for the Department of Social Care Hon Chris Robertshaw MHK laid out an important programme of change for the future of adult social care services in response to a Question from Mr Bill Henderson MHK regarding the Department’s residential homes.  This programme is intended to deliver:
• Modern services that will enable more vulnerable adults, especially older people, to receive the support they need to remain safely in their homes
• Developed and improved services for people with learning disabilities to enable them to live as independently as possible
• An approach to care provision that will be sustainable in the face of a growing and ageing population, in a period of significant financial challenge.

The programme is a positive and proactive approach to meeting the challenges of the significant numbers of older people who need our services in the coming years, the financial pressure which Government faces to make sure that it is achieving the best possible value for public expenditure, and the changing needs and aspirations of those who use our services.  As a result, we need to be able to deliver more care for the same resources, while supporting people to live independently in their own homes wherever possible.
The programme of change is comprehensive.  We will take no further admissions in Glenside Resource Centre with immediate effect.  Admissions to Rearyt ny Baie will be suspended temporarily so that we can create the capacity in the system we need to deliver the change.  We expect that we will be in a position to close Glenside by the summer of 2014.
 
But this is not about closure – it is about moving forward with services that are fit for the future and delivering the care that people and their families want.  Two new, high standard units will be opened this year as part of the programme.  Surby Unit in Southlands will be opened in the Spring, as planned, and we will offer residents in other homes the opportunity to transfer, where appropriate.
 
The Northern EMI unit will open this summer, allowing residents from the north of the Island to move closer to their communities.
 
This in turn will provide capacity elsewhere in our existing centres in order to help us to deliver the change we need.
 
All residents of the Resource Centres affected have received information about the proposals, and the Department is arranging meetings for relatives to provide further information and explore any concerns they may have.  We are also briefing all of the staff affected and our partners.
 
And we have already made significant progress in developing the community services that will enable people to remain in their own home.  One in four of those who have used the Community Care Team and the Hospital at Home service would have had to go into residential care if these service had not been available.  No-one using the Hospital to Home service has had to be admitted to residential care since they took their first referral in 2008.
 
This programme represents an exciting opportunity for us to make sure that Manx people truly do have the care they need, when and where they need it.

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