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HOME SUPPORT: NHS chief executive, Simon Stevens, wants less people taken into care homes

THE CHIEF executive of the National Health Service (NHS) says better community care and advances In dementia research should render care homes obsolete in the future.

Simon Stevens told Age UK’s For Later Life conference he would be "disappointed" if nursing homes still existed in 50 years' time.

He said: “We need to do a better job of keeping out of care homes. Each year about 90,000 people who live at home are admitted to hospital and then are discharged to a care home.

“Some of those folks clearly will need to be supported in a care home, but probably many could be supported at home. It would be a disappointment if in 30, 40 or 50 years time nursing homes still exist.”

His comments follow public concern about the treatment of the elderly in some care homes in recent years, supported by shocking footage of elderly patients being mistreated by care home staff.

Stevens, who took up his role earlier this year, said he believed the combination of team-work, technology, and better social support, should mean that they go the same way over time.

“We need to think about new ways of supporting people at home. We know that the vast majority of people would prefer to be supported in their own homes for as long as possible and continue to be an active part of their communities.

“Something is not working right about how we are providing community nursing and primary care for people at home and the consequence of that is people finding themselves admitted to hospital when we could otherwise avoid that.”