Playing ball: how new partnerships could be the future of joined-up care Accountable care systems are being talked up as the new way of keeping older people out of hospital. Or are they just privatisation by the back door?
“My life now is 100% better. In my old flat I was socially isolated and didn’t get out much. But here I have as much privacy but also as much activity and company as I want. And I feel safe here.” Michael James is describing life at Priory View, a sheltered accommodation block in Dunstable, Hertfordshire, that is trying to keep its 83 elderly, often disabled, residents as healthy as possible for as long as possible. Dozens of residents attend its two-hour chair-based exercise class every Thursday, and almost as many turn up for the gadget sessions, where iPad and iPhone skills are taught, to help people stay in touch with friends and loved ones.
“I go out to the supermarket at the front of the complex to collect a newspaper every morning for myself and six others, and have a chat when I deliver them to people who aren’t as mobile as me. It keeps me active and takes me about 75 minutes,” says James, 70, who has walked with a stick since breaking his back in a car crash in 2014. Bingo sessions, as well as book, knitting and gardening clubs offer opportunities to socialise that few residents would have had in their old homes. The year before he moved into Priory View, James – who takes 49 tablets a day for a range of ailments – got four birthday cards; this year he received 48. Continue reading... The Guardian
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