A SOCIAL care leader has warned that the region’s ageing population is a “ticking timebomb”.

Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of Care Forum Wales, was responding to a new report which shows there are already 11,000 people living with dementia in the region, a cruel condition which typically affects the older population.

According to the study by Denbighshire County Council, there are now 50,000 people aged 65 and over in north Wales, with the figure due to rise to 210,000 by 2039.

At that point the over-65 are expected to make up 30 per cent of the population. The report concluded there was likely to be a need for more nursing home places.

Mr Kreft said the findings came as no surprise and highlighted once again the lack of capacity in the system.

He said: “Given the inescapable demographics of an ageing population, we are sitting on a social care timebomb and we need to take urgent action otherwise we will be sleep-walking into a perfect storm.

“It was a trend also highlighted in a the recent Parliamentary Review and a report by Older People’s Commissioner Sarah Rochira who drew attention to he lack of care home capacity in Wales.

“The message is loud, clear and very straightforward. We need to build sustainable social care services including new care homes. Unfortunately, the opposite is happening and we are seeing care homes closing right across Wales because it is not financially viable to keep them open.

“These reports are a real wake-up call. It shows that we really do need to look at the leadership here in Wales of how we can actually develop a climate and culture where people want to invest and take the risk and actually build these much-needed facilities."See this week's north editions for the full story, in shops and online on Thursday