Council to expand elderly independence service

Barnsley Council plan to offer their service that helps elderly residents remain independent in their own homes to other areas through turning the service into a trading company. Barnsley Council is hoping it can expand its service that provides grab rails and other such mobility aids to the elderly by offering services to other council areas.

The Barnsley Independent Living at Home Service is said to cost around £2.5m a year to run, which some may say is a small price to pay when it provides motorised stair lifts and other such aids to the elderly to help them continue an independent lifestyle and stay in their own home.

Remaining independent

In an effort to keep the service running amidst severe budget cuts the council is looking to expand the service by selling the services to other council areas, bringing money back into Barnsley in a move to save jobs and the service itself. It is thought that through doing so, the council could save over £2m.

The service currently helps around 7,000 individuals in the Barnsley area, with 98 per cent of these being over the age of 65, according to this article. Through providing tools and technology that helps such older residents remain independent, the service not only offers a new lease of life to the older generation living in the area, but reduces the need for residential or full-time care.

Even for those who already benefit from the assistance that orthopaedic rise and recliner chairs and other such home aids bring, the service also offers the technology for such individuals who use the service to monitor their own blood pressure – a particular useful aid for the over 65s where high blood pressure can be the start of a whole multitude of health risks. With the Independent Living at Home Service possibly being saved after such intuitive thinking from Barnsley Council, it is hoped other services across the country will follow suit and keep much needed services running for some time to come.

Image Credit: Bromford (flickr.com)