Housing 21 Welcomes APPG Dementia Report

Press Release

For immediate release: 12 July 2011

Housing 21 welcomes APPG report on dementia

Pushpa Raguvaran. Chief Executive of Housing 21 said: "Housing 21 welcomes the All Party Parliamentary Group’s recommendation to free up funds for community-based dementia care. However, we would have liked to have seen greater debate around the role that specialist housing, such as ‘extra care’, can play in providing a value for money solution.

"We are already finding that appropriate care, support and health interventions for people in their own homes can both prevent hospital admissions and speed up hospital discharge.

"The call for better co-ordination across the system is particularly welcome, particularly if this includes housing and home care. Our Dementia Adviser role, which is a single point of contact coordinating access to care, and support is helping people with dementia to remain in their own homes for longer. Along with multi-skilled personal assistant teams, that put the person with dementia at the heart of service delivery, these community-based services are both helping to avoid inappropriate hospital admissions as well as shorten hospital stays."

"We have the evidence that it is possible to improve dementia care; it can be done for less and with greater quality than it’s costing now."

ENDS　

For further information, please contact Wendy Gornicki, PR & Information Officer on 0370 192 4338, or email wendy.gornicki@housing21.co.uk

Housing 21’s mission is to promote independence and choice for older people through quality care, health and housing services. It provides around 124,000 hours of community care each week and manages 18,200 sheltered and extra care apartments.