Contact: John Blanchard, Ext: 7217

1 Summary

The following decisions are sought.

1.1 Approval to the expenditure of £80,000 towards the cost of refurbishing surplus accommodation at Bulmer House OPH, Petersfield..

2 Reason(s)

2.1 To facilitate the refurbishment of Malmesbury Lawn Older Persons Home and meet an operational need for the Havant/Petersfield Home Care Team to be housed under one roof.

3 Other options considered and rejected

3.1 No alternative surplus County Council owned accommodation is available in the area for this purpose.

4 Conflicts of Interest declared by the decision-maker or a Member or Officer consulted

4.1 Not applicable

5 Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee

5.1 Not applicable

6 Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent

Approved by: Date of decision:

Councillor Felicity Hindson

Contact: John Blanchard Ext: 7217

1 Background

1.1 Currently the Havant/Petersfield Home Care Team are accommodated in two locations within the area: an office within Bulmer House Older Persons Home, Petersfield and offices within Malmesbury Lawn Older Persons Home, Havant.

1.2 There is a pressing requirement for the Home Care team based at Malmesbury Lawn to be relocated to alternative accommodation as their existing accommodation within the Home is required to be brought back into use as an integral part of the refurbishment proposals under the Older Persons Home Strategy works, reported to the Executive Member Social Care on 24 January 2003. The likely phased programme of works to the Home means that the team will need to vacate by the end of 2003.

1.3 The location of the Home Care team within the residential part of accommodation at Malmesbury Lawn has been the subject of critical reports by the Care Standards Commission.

1.4 For some considerable time there has been an operational requirement to house the Havant/Petersfield Home Care team in one single location, both in terms of ensuring operational and management benefits and also efficiencies of time.

2 Proposals

2.1 Separate to the residential accommodation within Bulmer House is a two-storey wing which on the ground floor provides a staff sleeping-in room, bathroom/WC, together with a visitors sleeping room, kitchen, and training room. On the first floor there is former staff accommodation of a similar layout which has not been used for a number of years and is in need of considerable refurbishment to allow it to be brought back into use.

2.2 It is proposed to re-locate the staff sleeping-in and other existing facilities to the first floor (where an existing door links to the residential home) and provide suitable office accommodation for the Home Care Team consisting of 11 staff in total on the ground floor, where the space available will allow for both the team already occupying another part of Bulmer House and the team located at Malmesbury Lawn to be accommodated within one suite of offices. This proposal will also ensure that the Home Care Team do not impinge upon residents of the Home as they will not be accommodated within the residential unit itself.

2.3 Given that no alternative surplus County Council owned property is available in the area for this purpose the option to utilise un-used accommodation within Bulmer House provides an ideal opportunity to relocate the team from Malmesbury Lawn and meet the long-term operational requirements of the area team being housed in one location.

3 Financing

3.1 The pre-tender estimated cost of works to refurbish the accommodation to a suitable standard is £100,000 (excluding fees) of which it is proposed £80,000 will be funded from the Social Services 2003/2004 Capital Programme and £20,000 from the Policy and Resources building maintenance budget.

3.2 The furniture and equipment requirements associated with the scheme will be met from the Social Services 2003/2004 revenue budget allocation for this purpose.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. That the proposal to convert former staff accommodation at Bulmer House to office accommodation for the Havant/Petersfield Home Care Team be approved at an estimated cost of £100,000 (excluding fees), of which £80,000 will be funded from the Social Services 2003/2004 Capital programme.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act