Have your say on residential care for older people

The National Assembly for Wales’s Health and Social Care Committee has launched an inquiry into residential care for older people and is calling for evidence from interested individuals and organisations.

The Committee’s inquiry will examine the provision of residential care for older people in Wales and the way in which it can meet their current and future needs.

The terms of reference for the inquiry are as follows:

To examine the provision of residential care in Wales and the ways in which it can meet the current and future needs of older people, including:

• the process by which older people enter residential care and the availability and accessibility of alternative community-based services, including reablement services and domiciliary care.
• the capacity of the residential care sector to meet the demand for services from older people in terms of staffing resources, including the skills mix of staff and their access to training, and the number of places and facilities, and resource levels.
• the quality of residential care services and the experiences of service users and their families; the effectiveness of services at meeting the diversity of need amongst older people; and the management of care home closures.
• the effectiveness of the regulation and inspection arrangements for residential care, including the scope for increased scrutiny of service providers’ financial viability.
• new and emerging models of care provision.
• the balance of public and independent sector provision, and alternative funding, management, and ownership models, such as those offered by the cooperative, mutual sector and third sector, and Registered Social Landlords.

Please note that the Committee has agreed to focus the inquiry on residential care, although nursing care will inevitably be touched upon during discussions. The Committee has also decided to focus its attention on the provision of services for older people for the purpose of this inquiry.

The Committee welcomes evidence from both individuals and organisations. If you are responding on behalf of an organisation, please provide a brief description of the role of your organisation.

If you wish to submit evidence, please send an electronic copy of your submission to HSCCommittee@wales.gov.uk.

Alternatively, you can write to: Committee Clerk, Health and Social Care Committee, National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff Bay, CF99 1NA.

Submissions should arrive by Friday 16 December 2011. It may not be possible to take into account responses received after this date.

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