Move towards independent living

11:50am Friday 19th September 2008

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RESIDENTIAL accommodation for people with learning disabilities will be phased out by 2010.

Bromley is one of the few areas in the country that still has a large number of people with learning disabilities living in NHS residential care.

The Government wants residents to move out of these homes and rehouse them in the community.

There are currently 90 residents of Bassets residential campus in Acorn Way, Orpington who will be helped to live independently.

Although the campus is run by Bromley PCT, Bromley Council has been given a grant by the Government to carry out the transition.

Portfolio holder for adult and community services, Councillor Graham Arthur said: "These people are not sick so they don't belong within the NHS service.

"They belong in the community and that is how they will be treated."

The council is budgeting to spend £2,702,353 on the three-year transition process.

At this stage there are no specific details of a timetable of when people will be moving out into new homes, but support will be put in place to make the transition smooth.

Money will be used to make sure people have help with training, advocacy and looking for jobs.

Councillor Arthur said: "Some of them have been there for many years. Once we get people into a community setting, they thrive.

"They can hold down jobs and use leisure facilities they have never been able to."

Last year Bassets was included in a Healthcare Commission investigation which found residential care in Bromley for people with learning disabilities was not up to scratch.

A spokesman for the commission said that the situation was reviewed in March this year by inspectors who were satisfied that the changes had been made.