The Need to Grow
In the past 20 years Vale House has helped and supported many residents and their families, often for several years. Most of the time the 20 beds were full, with similar numbers of people on our waiting list, many of whom need urgent placement. Demand, however, was far outstripping supply, and the home was contacted nearly every day by new people looking for a nursing home for a relative with dementia.
Throughout Oxfordshire there is already a shortage of specialist beds for older people with dementia, yet the increase in this county in the number of people aged over 75 within the next few years is expected to be higher than the England average (an increase of 37.5% compared with the national figure of 24%). Primary and community services for older people with mental health needs are running into financial difficulties. If these services cannot deliver sufficient support for older people living in the community, the demand for beds will rise still further. At the same time private and voluntary care homes are closing because managers cannot afford to upgrade their buildings or comply with new regulations.
A Vision for the Future
After quite a few years of hard work by many people, we have achieved our aim of building a new, purpose-built care home in Littlemore Village, on the east side of Oxford. This wonderful building, designed by GBS Architects, has been designed around the needs of residents. We have 40 en suite rooms in four wings. We moved our current residents in at the end of January and they are already benefiting from open spaces, cosy corners, lovely views across fields and the village, our garden and roof gardens.
In the future, we want to extend our work further
- To provide an outreach service to support those families still able to care for their relatives at home.
- To develop our teaching and information resources and to share our knowledge and experience with others.
