4:20pm Tuesday 25th March 2008
By Gary Bills-Geddes
PENSIONERS in Ledbury and Bromyard will be able to have their say in the future of day care provision in the county.
The result of a major shake-up could be the setting up of a "home share scheme", where pensioners, with the support of voluntary agencies, will go to each other's homes instead of halls to meet up.
This model of day care provision is already in use in rural counties such as Suffolk A major county-wide consultation exercise has been launched to make day care facilities more appealing and useful to pensioners.
Another idea is to find "mentors" to set up more groups for hobbies and crafts.
Herefordshire Council is also keen to link visits to Ledbury's one day care centre, at Leadon Bank, with re-ablement care, such as physiotherapy sessions or exercise.
Herefordshire Council's projects manager, Sheila Morgan said of the proposals: "I'd like to see a combination of all these things. At the moment, for example, we have nothing at all in Bromyard."
She added that the ideas of pensioners meeting up as small groups in each others homes would be of particular benefit to Ledbury's outlying rural areas, where many senior citizens may not wish to travel very far for company.
The Cllr Olwyn Barnett, the council's cabinet member for social care and health said: "Each week, hundreds of older people visit say centres.
"However, the number is low compared with the number of older people in Herefordshire"
Cllr Barnett continued: "There's a mis-match. The services need modernising to meet the needs of older people in the 21st century."
Ledbury people can make their views known at a consultation event in the Community Hall, Lawnside Road, on Thursday, April 10, from 1.45pm to 4.30pm.
Another session will take place at the Falcon Hotel in Bromyard, on Thursday, April 17 from 1.45pm to 4.30pm.
Cllr Barnett added: "We want to hear from as many people as possible, especially people who use day care and their families and friends."
Survey forms, to be filled in beforehand, can be picked up from Ledbury Library, Bromyard Library and the Herefordshire Council offices in the Master's House, St Katherine's car park.
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