A Peckham care home has been helping patients “become more independent” since it expanded last summer.
Southwark Council, which runs the Waterside Care Home in partnership with Agincare, said 80 per cent of residents returned home with “reduced or no-ongoing care”.
A local councillor, who helped oversee the introduction of the home’s new Avon Unit, said Southwark Council was “bucking the national decline” in nursing care beds.
Cllr Evelyn Akoto, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “In Southwark, we are bucking the national decline in the number of nursing care beds.
“They provide complex and specialist support that is vital to our social care ecosystem. The new Avon Unit means more joined up care for our residents with a real focus on them retaining their independence.
“We are delighted by the unit’s success so far; the product of expert care and close work between the council, Agincare and the local NHS.”
Earlier this year, Southwark Council partnered with Agincare as the new care provider for four older people’s care homes in the borough.
In July 2023, they opened the Avon Unit at Waterside, a seventeen-bedroom facility that helps people regain their independence after a stay in hospital, and assesses people’s care needs.
David Griffiths, a former patient at the Avon Unit, said: “I was used to walking over 5,000 steps a day but following an accident I was unable to walk at all.
“Even after seven weeks in hospital, my walking was severely limited and, thankfully, I was transferred to the Avon Unit.”
He continued: “From the start, my physio Steve set goals for my rehabilitation which enabled me to walk out of the unit with the use of two sticks, whereas when I came in I could walk only 20 metres using a frame, and I’m still getting better and walking further every day.”
Since 2012, the number of English care homes with nursing has fallen by around 300, meaning a 12 per cent drop in available nursing care beds.
Waterside, on the other hand, has plans to extend capacity even further.
Raina Summerson, chief executive at Agincare, said: “Agincare is proud to work closely in partnership with Southwark Council and the South East London ICB to increase nursing capacity across the borough.”