Madam,

Ceredigion has an ageing population many of whom need, or will need, some form of care in their later years.

Under the recently implemented Social Services and Wellbeing Act, ensuring that these care needs are met is now a statutory duty of the county council. However, how these needs are to be met is not laid down in the act, which leaves it open for the county council to decide how to do this. If the council decides that it cannot provide a particular service, then anyone needing that service will have to have their needs met in other ways, unless there are grounds on which that decision can be challenged.

The county council has decided that it cannot provide residential care homes for older people any more and Bodlondeb is the first to go. They give a number of reasons for this.

They say the demand for residential care homes is falling because people prefer to be looked after in their own homes leading to an oversupply in the residential homes sector and that the council is losing money because its care homes are not running at full capacity.

They also say that the council-owned residential homes in Ceredigion are all at a point where they require major repairs and need to be brought up to current standards for which the council says it does not have the money.

All of this is debatable.

Although it is true that vacancies are high in council-run homes, it is a different story when it comes to private care homes. Vacancies in council-run homes are currently 23 per cent, but just under six per cent in the county’s private homes. This suggests that there are other reasons than a preference for home care as to why council-run homes are not running at full capacity. Perhaps the fact that the criteria set by the council for access to its care homes are currently very high has something to do with it. This makes it difficult for anyone wanting residential home care to access a council-run home, and has allowed the run down of council care homes, particularly Bodlondeb, whose vacancies are higher than any of the others.

The costings that the council has given for the renovation and upgrading of Bodlondeb have been questioned by those with expertise in this area, as has the kind of renovation and upgrading that the council has said is necessary.

A variety of forms of care needs to be available both now and in the future to meet the growing and varied needs of an ageing population.

Until Ceredigion County Council has produced an overall plan of how it proposes that these needs are met in Ceredigion, based on a valid needs analysis, Bodlondeb should remain open and steps should be taken to increase occupancy to full capacity. The problems with the buildings could be dealt with on a short-term basis until decisions are made about all forms of care for older people in the county.

Yours etc,

Gwenda Williams, Rhydyfelin, Aberystwyth.

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