A HEALTH group is to set up a dedicated team to look at care needs for north Ceredigion because of the threatened closure of the Bodlondeb care home in Penparcau.

Jack Evershed, co-chair of the Mid Wales Healthcare Collaborative, addressed a meeting of the Save Bodlondeb steering group after being invited to discuss care services in north Ceredigion and said he had received agreement in principle from collaborative members for a group to be established to look into care service provision.

He said concerns over how care services should be provided needed to be addressed to ensure that people requiring care were not left with just one option.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Evershed told the Cambrian News: “I was asked to attend the Bodlondeb steering committee to outline my thoughts on the provision of care services in the Aberystwyth area.

“It appears there is a discrepancy between the experiences of people living in the area and the demand as perceived by the local authority.

“With the demographic situation it is intuitively clear that demand for services for care of the elderly will only increase.

“The prescriptive labels attached to this care - residential, step-down, palliative, respite etc - leads to a position where there can be a certain amount of ‘buck-passing’ between health and social care and a documented small amount of demand for a very specific service."

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