Simon says a lot about ageing
Simon Robson is a not untypical family man. The 46-year-old from Kenilworth has three children under 15 and an 86-year-old mother who is fiercely independent and lives hundreds of miles away.
The structures of family life have changed quite a lot in recent decades. We have more people living alone, more people having children later in life, and more people living longer. That’s without the fact that people move around more nowadays, following job opportunities or a better lifestyle across the country, or the globe.
Simon came to Warwickshire, and a new job with the County Council, about nine months ago. It was a career progression move. He had been Head of Commissioning & Care Management for Blackburn with Darwen, a unitary authority a bit smaller than Warwickshire County Council. Now he is Head of Local Provider Services for the county - and enjoying his new job, working with dedicated people who provide care and support services for older people.
“Warwickshire is a wonderful place to live and work and I arrived at an exciting time,” said Simon.
“The County Council is reviewing its services for older people. This is not just tinkering but a genuine vision to offer our older residents more choice and better services. We want people to be able to live independently for longer, with the support they need for a real sense of security and wellbeing - not sidelined or isolated but still part of the local community.”
Simon’s cv must have raised a smile or two when he applied for the Warwickshire job. A registered nurse with 13 years social care management experience, Simon had been responsible for countywide services in four local authorities. In Blackburn he had project managed three major modernisation schemes to improve and widen services for older people in the area. Modernising is exactly what Warwickshire wants to do - and here was a candidate with hands-on experience.
Modernising and reshaping services for Warwickshire’s older residents is not just a wish but an imperative. As the county’s Director of Adult Health & Community Services said: “Doing nothing is not an option.”
Warwickshire already has an above-average proportion of older residents and the number of over-65s is expected to rise over the next few years. More significantly, taking 2006 figures as a starting point, the county can expect a 35% increase in the number of over-85s by 2016 and a 27% rise in dementia sufferers.
“This certainly raises questions about supply and demand, but also about the quality and range of care and support services we can offer our older people over the next 30 years,” said Simon.
“Life expectancy has increased but so have people’s expectations for their advancing years. There is no doubt most prefer to live independently as they get older, rather than go into a home. And they tend to do better living more independently, as long as they have support when it’s needed. That is the big issue for Warwickshire. We are going to fall short unless we modernise and reshape our services to meet the needs and wishes of our ageing population.”
Simon is pretty passionate about all this. He talks about cultural change and how older people are less passive nowadays. “They don’t want to be on the receiving end of care, they want choices and different levels of support at different times in their lives,” he said. “So we need to tailor our services to meet individual needs. I call it a door for life. Care can come to you.”
Having an 86-year-old Mum who still drives and does her own thing in her own home, Simon has first-hand, family experience of the whole independence issue. But, as he points out, it’s an issue for all of us, and not only in the context of older relatives and friends. Given the trends and population predictions, a lot more of us are going to get to 86.
So what should Warwickshire do about it? As a first step, the County Council is carrying out a wholesale review of the 22 care homes it owns. Ten are run by the County Council and the remainder by external providers whose contracts are coming to an end. So the timing couldn’t be better.
Basically, the review is looking at all the options and costing them out. A report is expected in the Autumn, followed by a consultation period so older people, their families and carers, care home staff and the wider public can contribute.
“We have a massive, huge and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get it right,” said Simon. “We owe it to our older people, and ourselves, to make sure we do.”