The South Eastern HSC Trust has launched a consultation on the future of Northfield House statutory residential home.
In 2011, the then Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Minister Poots announced a review of Health and Social Care services in Northern Ireland. Transforming Your Care (TYC) took account of major pressures for change including the fact that there are more older people in NI than ever before, the wishes of those who might use the service in the future and the financial pressures on services.
“Throughout the TYC Review people expressed their preference for care at home or as close to home as possible. In response to this, the new model will provide more support to people who are sick or frail to maintain their independence and stay in their own homes for as long as possible…Providing care, treatment and support in this way will change the current model, perhaps most noticeably in terms of the number of residential homes.” (Source: Transforming Your Care, 2011).
These plans included proposals to reduce the number of statutory residential care homes and required Trusts to arrange to provide this type of care in other ways.
In November 2013 the Health & Social Care Board consulted publicly on proposed criteria that would be used by Trusts in assessing each of their statutory residential care homes. Following the consultation process the Health & Social Care Board asked the South Eastern Local Commissioning Group to undertake a needs assessment for older people’s services.
The South Eastern HSC Trust was also asked by the Health and Social Care Board to apply the criteria to the Northfield statutory residential care home and make recommendations for change within the context of the South Eastern Local Commissioning Group Needs Assessment.
Subsequently our recommendations were presented at the Health & Social Care Board Regional Board meeting on 19 May 2015, where the South Eastern Trust recommendations were endorsed for public consultation. The proposal for Northfield House, is that this home will be subject to closure in the future, and the continued cessation of permanent admissions to the home will remain in place.
The South Eastern Trust currently has one statutory residential care home for frail elderly people, Northfield House, in Donaghadee, with three permanent residents. In consideration of the wide range of alternative services that have been developed locally to help support older people with their health and social care needs, the Trust now intends to consult with the local population on the proposed changes to the provision of statutory residential care in the future.
The Trust has committed to honour the Minister’s statement ensuring that current permanent residents are able to remain in their existing home for as long as they wish and as long as their care needs can continue to be safely met.
The Trust has embarked on a process of formal consultation with service users, interested parties and the general public to ensure that this document is consulted upon as widely and openly as possible.
The consultation process commenced on 28 September 2015 and will run until 21 December 2015.
Comments made during the consultation process will be considered carefully and feedback will be provided.
A copy of the proposal and information on the consultation process is available on the Trust website:
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