Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has given the go ahead for the new Ardseileach development to meet the care and support needs of adults with learning disabilities.
The project will replace the accommodation of the existing care home and respite
service in Willowglen, Stornoway, to provide a nearly £6 million modern up-
Eleven people currently reside in the existing care home which is mainly laid out as bedrooms directly leading off one continuous corridor.
The new facility will have a cluster of flats or supported accommodation units. This offers different styles of individual and shared living options, with varying levels of support provided depending on individual needs.
The inflexibility of the present care home sometimes required the Comhairle to accommodate residents on the mainland. This often severed family ties they relied upon and also meant a significant financial cost to the Comhairle and NHS Western Isles. The new home should help to reduce those numbers.
Go-
20 February 2015
Despite financial woes, the Comhairle has agreed to find the cash to build the desperately needed modern facility.
An estimated 60% of Western Isles adults with learning disabilities are living at home with a carer with a contrasting figure of 18% within Highland region.
Some £76,000 has been spent on repairing the building over the past three years and running costs are prohibitively expensive.
Uisdean Robertson, chair of Health and Social Care committee, said: “A move to a care home, or the need for statutory intervention, can for many be unplanned and happen as a result of a carer no longer being able to provide the support that is required.”
He said the core and cluster redesign of residential care services will help the Comhairle meet the demand for local care, particularly, respite and emergency provision in what is an “increasingly challenging financial climate.”
The existing home plus day centre on the site will remain in use during constructions works and will be demolished after the new building is finished.