Wales loses 600 care beds

Wales has lost one in five council-run care beds in the last five years according to research completed by the BBC Radio Cymru’s Post Cyntaf programme. It discovered that local councils are closing residential homes and opting for care in the community and private homes. The head of the Welsh Assembly’s Health and Social Care Committee, Mark Drakesford, said it was a long term trend affecting the 23,000 people in Wales needing care. He explained it had been happening for at least the past ten years and forecast it continuing over the next ten years. He said that local authorities had diversified residential care options and moved away from traditional homes. He added: Local authorities have invested money into creating services that allow people to stay at home for longer, where on the whole, we think people prefer to be.’

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