What is the Age Well project?
The Age Well project plans changes to some services for older people (mainly over 65) in different parts of East Sussex, mainly in Uckfield, Ringmer, Hastings and rural parts of the Rother district. We aim to improve care for older people by developing a range of services and supporting more people in their own homes.
We are planning the Age Well project with other health, housing and voluntary organisations. We need to be sure that the new services will fit more neatly with other related services. So these other organisations will also be interested in your comments.
The main aim of the project is to replace the three homes – Mount Denys and Pinehill, Ridgewood Rise and Harvard Road – with the best possible new services. Outside the project we are looking at other services for other parts of the county.
The consultation
The new services are expected to be in place for about 25 years from 2009. We asked for the views of those over 50, and people who are caring, or may be caring, for older people over this time.
We asked for feedback on:
- what you would prefer to see in new buildings
- what things will make the new services for older people and their carers good ones.
The deadline for comments passed on 20 February 2006. You can find out the results in the 'Summary of Responses to First Consultation' document.
Further comments
If you have further comments or want to get more involved, please contact:
Lorayne Ferguson and Paula Kirkland
Project Managers
Adult Social Care
East Sussex County Council
Ridgewood Rise
Highview Lane
Uckfield TN22 5SY
Phone: 01825 768297
Email: lorayne.ferguson@eastsussex.gov.uk
Email: paula.kirkland@eastsussex.gov.uk
How your views will help to develop the services offered
Your views will help us with the ideas for the services and also help with some of the important things about the buildings we plan.
We will continue to gather people's views and as the project goes ahead. We will make as many opportunities as we can to meet interested people and find ways of involving them.
We will consider your views along with any legal and financial aspects we must look at. (For example, the public services must try to get good value in terms of quality, efficiency and cost.)
What happens next
- October 2005 – We gained government approval of our bid for funding
- November 2005 to February 2006 – We consulted people on the project's plans.
- July 2006 – Government give us formal approval to go ahead.
- September 2006 to September 2007 – We advertise for and choose the contractor, and continue with consultation.
- September 2007 to April 2008 – We negotiate details and get planning permission before we award the contract and the building starts.
More detailed information including a timetable is available on our Age Well project page.
Background to the Age Well project
We set up the Age Well project following a full consultation and review of County Council residential homes for older people. This review ended in 2004.
The review showed us that two particular buildings, Ridgewood Rise in Uckfield and Harvard Road in Ringmer, were not good enough to continue using indefinitely. However, county councillors decided that the buildings should stay open while we ‘explore the possibility of obtaining a government grant.' This grant would pay for the costs of the necessary work.
In Hastings, the review of the Mount Denys residential services for older people with mental-health problems ended when county councillors agreed to keep the same service until it could be ‘re-provided' (meaning replaced, but not necessarily in exactly the same way, so that new developments and improvements can be included).
The Age Well project has been set up to carry out these decisions made by the county council.
We drew up general plans and asked the Government for funding for the cost of necessary work. Before applying for funding we talked to relevant people and organisations such as the Sussex Downs and Weald and Primary Care Trust (PCT), local councillors and voluntary organisations such as Age Concern.
The project's plans are in line with the local council's and health authorities' priorities and also those set out by the Government.
East Sussex County Council