Proposals for a council-owned and operated care home in Medway are continuing to move forward with a full planning application set to be submitted this June.

Although statutory consultation will take place as part of the planning process, residents are being invited to look at the proposals and ask any questions they may have prior to it being submitted.

The delivery of a new care home forms part of the Care for Medway strategy – which looks to increase care provision in the area.

Located on the Innovation Park Medway South site, the new provision would see an 80-bed care home created. This would include 40 beds as part of a specialist dementia care facility, and 40 beds to assist with discharging residents from hospital.

In addition, 12 single-storey units for adults receiving adult social care support would be created on the southern part of the site. These would be centred around a communal garden and social space for the residents.

The planning application is due to be submitted in mid-June. You can find out more about the proposals here, and send any questions to Medway Council’s Adult Social Care team at: Adults.Commissioning@Medway.gov.uk.

In addition to the planning application, Cabinet will be considering at its meeting on 2 June,  a strategy for future procurement linked to the project.

Cllr Teresa Murray, Medway Council’s Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Public Health, said: “I am delighted to see the progress being made on creating and running our own care home in Medway, however, we want to ensure residents have that opportunity to ask questions and give feedback before we move to the formal planning process.

“This is a bold step, but it is a step we are making after careful consideration and with the support and advice of expertise. There is a continued growing pressure on adult social care services, both nationally and here in Medway, and the two largest growing groups in our population are the over 65s and over 85s. By creating and running our own care home, our ambition is to set the gold standard of care here in Medway – with specialist dementia places, residential and reablement facilities to support discharging people from hospital, space for training and development and more.”

To find out more about the proposals visit the Medway Council website.