Achieving positive outcomes for older people and their carers: national charity publishes new report

Counsel and Care, the national charity getting the best care and support for older people, publishes today (27 February 2008) a new report on ways in which new neighbourhood services can be developed for all generations.

Delivering A Sure Start to Later Life: exploring new models of neighbourhood services for older people reports on a project undertaken by Counsel and Care, funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

The project explored three models, and identified good practice examples in each:
• extra care sheltered housing – where schemes act as a ‘hub’ of services for scheme residents and the local community;
• children’s centres – to explore the potential of using Sure Start children’s centres as intergenerational schemes including older people;
• neighbourhood watch schemes – identifying examples of projects that address crime and the fear of crime, which has a detrimental effect on the quality of older people’s lives.

The project also looked at the views of older people themselves, and discovered how they accessed local services, and how they related to the Sure Start to Later Life concept.

Andrew Barnett, Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK) said:
“We are undoubtedly witnessing a huge growth in the number of older people. Counsel and Care’s report is not just concerned with the problems this poses but also with the benefits older people bring to society and their future well-being.”

Stephen Burke, Chief Executive of Counsel and Care, said:
“We are grateful to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for supporting this work.

“There has been a huge investment in Every Child Matters with 3,500 Sure Start children's centres being rolled out across the country. We need a parallel agenda for adults that look at how we achieve positive outcomes for all older and disabled people, and their carers.

“Success in delivering A Sure Start to Later Life will depend on the willingness and capacity of a range of partners to work together to deliver these joined up services - and to commitment by local government to addressing the needs of some of the longest serving members of their communities.”

For further information contact: Caroline Bernard 020 7241 8527 (out of hours 07760 191579)

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Notes to Editors
• Copies of Delivering A Sure Start to Later Life: exploring new models of neighbourhood services for older people can be downloaded free of charge from http://www.counselandcare.org.uk/influence/publications/ or hard copies can be obtained by writing to Counsel and Care at Twyman House, 16 Bonny Street, London, NW1 9PG, or by calling 020 7241 8522.

• Counsel and Care is a national charity getting the best care and support for older people. Advice on issues affecting older people can be obtained by calling 0845 300 7585 or emailing advice@counselandcare.org.uk. Counsel and Care’s Advice Service opening hours are 10am-4pm Monday-Friday except Wednesday afternoons.

• More information about Counsel and Care can be obtained from www.counselandcare.org.uk

• Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was an Armenian born in 1869. He became a British citizen, conducted much of his work in Britain, and finally settled in Portugal. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation was established in Lisbon in 1956, a year after his death. The UK Branch of the Foundation, based in London, has a history of working across the UK and Ireland, initiating or supporting pioneering developments in the fields of Arts, Education, Social Change and Anglo-Portuguese Cultural Relations.

• More information about the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation can be obtained from www.gulbenkian.org.uk