PLANS have been submitted for an 80-bedroom nursing home in Farnborough.
The nursing home, which would be built in Government House Road, is needed because of concerns over the quality of care in Aldershot and Farnborough, according to a report carried out by a surveyor on behalf of the developer.
That report, by independent specialist healthcare consultants Pinders, says there are enough homes and beds in the Rushmoor area but there are concerns over the quality of the care.
There are 40 care homes in Aldershot, Farnborough, Camberley, Farnham and Fleet providing care to more than 1,300 people.
But the report says just over a third of elderly people in care have access to single en suite rooms.
Though the number of people needing care is expected to rise in the next few years, the number of beds available in Aldershot and Farnborough has actually decreased.
The proposed home would have 80 en suite rooms, a hairdresser, common rooms and a shop.
The report into care for elderly was submitted as part of the planning application.
Numbers will double
It also estimates that the number of elderly people needing care in the area will nearly double between now and 2028.
This is largely due to an ageing population, as the baby boomers born after the Second World War are expected to retire.
The number of people aged over 65 across the Get Hampshire area will go from around 33,000 now to 48,000 in 2028, according to the report.
It expects the number of people aged over 85, who are the most in need of care, to double from around 4,000 to 8,000.
The report also says it cannot find any strategy for Rushmoor to deal with the predicted increase in the number of elderly people in the borough.
The latest government standards for care for the elderly say each resident should have an en suite room to themselves.
The proportion of en suites varies dramatically between large care homes already running in the borough.
Knellwood Residential Care Home in Canterbury Road, Farnborough, has 52 single rooms that are all en suite.
Ticehurst Nursing Home, in Whitchurch Close, Aldershot, has 86 rooms and none are en suite.
Overall, 582 places are available at 15 homes with only 202 en suite rooms.
The Pinders report says only 43% of those in the News & Mail area who need them can get them.
In its application to Rushmoor Borough Council, developer Inland Homes Plc said it had not consulted with the neighbours of the site of the home.
The proposed location for the home is in the Queensgate site, a development of business premises and homes between Government House Road and the Farnborough Road.
It was approved in 2007 and is under construction.
Job opportunities
Developer Inland Homes, which wants to build the care home, bought the site from the Ministry of Defence in 2006.
It expects the home would create 84 jobs if it is approved.
No date has been set for Rushmoor Borough Council’s planning committee to consider the application.