FUNDING for around-the-clock care for residents in a new care lodge in Winchester has been approved.

Hampshire County Council is paying for the care which will be provided at the new Chesil Lodge Extra Care Scheme.

As reported in the Chronicle, the £15m scheme is due to be completed in Autumn this year, and will provide 52 extra care flats on the site of the former Chesil car park.

It is part of Winchester City Council’s commitment to provide 300 affordable homes between 2012 and 2022.

It is funded by Hampshire County Council, Winchester City Council, the Homes and Community Agency, and a local bequest.

Extra Care provides people with their own individual apartment, coupled with access to communal and shared spaces, in modern, high-quality, attractive buildings, close to local facilities.

Twenty-four hour care, all year round, is available on-site, to be used progressively by people as their needs increase - avoiding early or unnecessary entry in to residential, or nursing homes County Council’s Executive Member for Adult Social Care, Liz Fairhurst said: "For many people, Extra Care is the ideal solution as they can have their own home, but with the added reassurance that help is at hand whenever they need it.

"Extra Care allows people to move out of houses where they are finding it difficult to cope, into a home where they can be secure and live independently. As well as providing a safe environment, Extra Care housing also enables couples with different care needs to stay living together and is more cost effective than residential care.

“We know that most people would prefer to continue to live independently in a home of their own, rather than enter residential care. The County Council is therefore investing up to £45 million over a decade to help to develop schemes of this kind.”