The UK’s Housing-with-Care operators are marking World Wellbeing Week by releasing a series of videos featuring residents and staff talking about their wellbeing and how their communities support them in general and during the lockdown.
During the Covid-19 Crisis the UK’s housing-with-care operators and their staff have been highly successful in supporting their residents, keeping them safe whilst also preventing social isolation. There is a growing body of statistical evidence that Integrated Retirement Communities were one of the best places an older person could have been in the UK during the lockdown – with care and support available in addition to the ability to self-isolate in your own apartment. In addition, operators made considerable efforts to provide ongoing support for social and wellbeing activities to keep people active despite the disruption caused by the virus.
The value which older people put on this support, care and independence has been well demonstrated by significant increases in demand across the country for housing-with-care.
To mark World Wellbeing Week ARCO, the representative body for the Housing-with-Care sector, is releasing a series of videos featuring residents and staff talking about their own experiences of wellbeing during lockdown in Retirement Communities.
The videos, which will appear on arcouk.org and on ARCO’s LinkedIn page this week, feature residents and staff from Extra Care Charitable Trust, Anchor Hanover, Audley, Retirement Security and MHA.
One of the residents, Michael, said:
“The main thing about living here is the community aspect and the friends that I have made as well.”
Another resident, Lin said:
“You’ll never be lonely here.”
Alan, another resident said:
“I honestly believe I will live longer because I feel relaxed and secure, I’ve never ever felt I’ve been forgotten for a day. I have more friends now than I have ever had in my life”
Michael Voges, Executive Director of ARCO said:
“We are incredibly proud of the way in which our members and their staff supported their residents and how they went above and beyond during lockdown. They have done an amazing job in keeping residents safe and secure but also supported and active.
“It is incredible to hear the voices of housing-with-care residents and their staff and to hear about their experiences. This is what our sector is all about. We want older people to be able to live active and independent lives for as long as possible.
“The last fifteen months have shown even more than usual the value of what our members do – we are working hard to give more older people the opportunity to live in Retirement Communities in future. “
ENDS
For Further Information Please Contact
Gareth Lyon, Head of Policy and Communications, at garethlyon@arcouk.org or on 075350 88498
Notes to editors
1. About ARCO: Founded in 2012, ARCO (Associated Retirement Community Operators) is the principle body representing both private and not-for-profit operators of housing-with-care schemes in the UK. ARCO’s members aim to provide housing and care solutions to an additional 150,000 people over the next 10 years. We work in three distinct areas, each vital in supporting our Members and growing the sector that helps people to live independently for longer.
- Setting the Policy Agenda: delivered through policy campaigning work with MPs, Peers, Government Ministers, Local Authorities and other key sector stakeholders to influence the future of much-needed sector specific legislation.
- Compliance & Regulation: delivered through our Consumer Code and standards framework, with continual assessments of Members to drive high standards for customer and resident experience.
- Knowledge Sharing and Best Practice: delivered through our extensive events programme, annual What Next? Conference, Network bulletins, online Knowledge Bank, and ARCO Analytics.
2. About Retirement Communities/housing-with-care: Retirement Communities sit in between traditional retirement houses (which have less extensive staffing and leisure facilities), and care homes, and can be set in urban or suburban locations. There is a growing body of evidence which shows that Retirement Communities keep older people healthy, well and independent for longer – reducing the overall level of care they need and keeping them out of care homes and hospitals. Currently about 77,000 people live in Retirement Communities in the UK but this number is set to grow to 250,000 people by the end of the decade. Retirement Communities are the fastest growing form of social care provision in the UK – with demand significantly exceeding current supply. Typically consisting of individual one or two bedroom flats or houses, located in a development with similar properties, residents have access to a range of services and facilities, which will include optional on-site care, 24-hour staffing, and dining and leisure facilities, and may also include bars, gyms and craft rooms. Retirement Communities are also sometimes referred to as housing-with-care schemes, retirement villages, extra care housing, assisted living, or close care apartments.
3. The benefits of Housing-with-Care: Housing-with-care has shown during the outbreak that it can help residents to self-isolate independently. A particular advantage of this form of retirement provision is that residents can access the highest levels of support from staff through care, meals, regular phone check-ins and a wide range of online activities.
More broadly, housing-with-care brings a range of great benefits to older people and our country as a whole:
- Delivering savings to the social care system: Providing social care for those with lower-level needs costs £1,222 (17.8%) less per person per year, and for those with higher-level needs £4,556 (26%) less than in other care settings.
- Boosting health and the NHS: By improving the physical and mental health of residents, costs like GP, nurse and hospital visits reduce by 38%. £5.6bn in cost savings will be made for health and social care if 250,000 over-65s live in housing-with-care by 2030
- Freeing up family homes: 562,000 bedrooms will be released to the market for all generations if the sector achieves its 2030 growth targets.
- Efficient use of land: Apartments for older people are built using up to six times less space than family homes.
- Tackling loneliness: Residents are five times as likely as non-residents to participate in social events, and four times as likely to get together with friends.
These benefits have been clearly demonstrated during the coronavirus outbreak. The provision of care, meals and support onsite has played a key role in keeping residents well and healthy. Housing-with-care has been central to cutting hospital admissions, reducing strain on the NHS and providing crucial step-down capacity once people could leave hospital.
4. Our call for a Housing-with-Care Task Force: The coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on our social care system and forced us to reflect on the fact that we need to develop new models of care.
There is a huge gap in the current social care landscape for housing and care options that sit between care homes, and people receiving care in homes that may no longer suit their needs. For older people without acute care needs, the UK needs to grow the provision of models that enable them to live independently for as long as possible: with onsite care and support if needed, boosting health and wellbeing, reducing pressure on the NHS and strengthening social connection.
That’s why ARCO is calling for the swift establishment of a cross-government Housing-with-Care Task Force to accelerate the growth of the housing-with-care sector. Backed by a range of high-profile supporters, we believe a Task Force is the best mechanism through which barriers to growth can be identified, and recommendations for change made. Only by working together can we establish new options that compliment and extend the existing social care landscape in the UK.
