Care in Later life - Share your views

Update September 2023

The first phase of the public involvement regarding these developments was conducted over 11 weeks between June - August 2023. Thank you to everyone who contributed and the range of community partners who supported our efforts to reach out across the local area. 

By listening to patient experiences of this support over time, we will be able to refine our ways of working and deliver greater consistency for patients across the county. 

The initial phase of involvement activity concluded in September 2023. You can find out about what we heard from the conversations with 228 people that took place through a series of outreach sessions, focus groups as well as online questions. A copy of this summary report is available here. 

 

Project Outline

Health and Care leaders in County Durham are continually looking to appropriately plan for the right range of services to be available for people's needs.

A key area is for local services to help and support people as they continue to age and move into later life.

To continue to best meet the needs of people in County Durham as they age, local health and care leaders are looking to understand the aspirations and expectations people have in where and how they will be cared for.

There are a variety of different ways that people's care and support needs are currently provided. The information and understanding obtained through this engagement will be used to inform future commissioning decisions regarding the range of services available.

This might include support such as;

  • A person who lives at home and is becoming frail, needing support to wash and dress each day.
  • Having reminders about taking medication, drinking or eating meals because their ability to recall information is not as good as it used to be.
  • Assistance around the house through physical aids (hand rails or a frame) to help people remain independent and manage short term needs (such as recovery from a fall) or long term conditions such as arthritis.

As part of these conversations, we are looking to specifically engage with individuals who are aged 50 and over, but not exclusively. While we appreciate 50 is not 'old age', by listening to these people now, we can make better plans for their needs in the future.

As part of the initial stage in this project, we are holding a series of group discussions which are being facilitated by an independent partner. These sessions have linked up with local community organisations working across the County.

There is also an opportunity for anyone to share their thoughts and aspirations about the care and support available to them in the future. You can do this through the set of online questions available on the link below, or by scanning the QR code.

You can find out more about Care in Later life in this introductory information report about some of the types of care and support for people who have specific needs.