Kevin Lynes, Kent County Council Cabinet Member for Adult Services, gives an insight into the future of care in Kent, and how Towards 2010, the council’s vision for the next four years, will enhance people’s independence and choice.

It is a real cause for celebration that more people in Kent are living longer than ever before.

It also says a lot for our county that every year hundreds of people choose to move here when they retire - often to live closer to their children and grandchildren who have already spotted the opportunities available in our corner of England.

Some commentators make it sound like having an ageing population is a disastrous thing. At KCC, we know better.

The contribution that older and retired people make to our communities is immense: many organisations that rely on volunteers would grind to a halt without them. And their wisdom, humour and experience can enrich life for us all.

However, it is true that, with an ageing population and a shrinking workforce, we need to plan carefully for the future.

It is also true that people’s expectations of what their lives will be like as they age are changing. Overwhelmingly, people nowadays want to retain flexibility, control over their lives and as much independence as possible as they age.

So in Towards 2010, our vision for the next four years, we have explicitly committed KCC to increasing the number of people supported to live independently in their own homes.

We are going to do that by:

• Innovative housing

During September, we are announcing details of our £72 million Better Homes, Active Lives project to build 344 apartments in partnership with ten of the 12 district or borough councils. These flats - 280 for older people and 64 for people with learning difficulties or mental health problems - will enable them to get 24-hour care if they need it, while retaining their own front door.

•Groundbreaking use of technology

Our TeleHealth project - giving people with chronic conditions the technology to monitor their own health at home and download the results over a secure connection to their GP surgery - is the biggest of its kind in the UK.

And more than 400 Kent residents are now benefiting from Telecare: a system of sensors which uses wireless technology to monitor everything from floods or falls to movement - or the lack of it. If something goes wrong and the people being monitored are able to contact the 24-hour monitoring centre themselves, they do. If not, the Telecare system will dial the centre automatically to raise the alarm.

Telecare is already being used by people in Swale, Maidstone and Tonbridge & Malling and is just starting in Gravesham and Dover. It will gradually become available across the rest of Kent over the next 12 months.

• Encouraging more people to use Direct Payments

We are delighted that more than 1,000 people in Kent are already enjoying the freedom, flexibility and choice offered by Direct Payments, under which they take charge of the money they are assessed as needing and decide how it should be spent. Later this year we will be launching the first payment card in the country for people using Direct Payments, to open up their benefits to even more of the 8,500 people we support at home.

There are other things too. We are working closely with the NHS to develop joint services so that patients who are too unwell to cope on their own at home but not ill enough to need to be in hospital can get intensive care and treatment until they are better again - either in care homes or in their own homes.

It is great to see people rebuilding their strength and confidence after a hospital stay, or managing to avoid going into hospital altogether.

Many rooms in our residential homes that once were for permanent residents are now being used instead to offer respite care so that older people can come in to give their families a break.

For carers, knowing they are going to have a week or two off every three or four months can enable them to keep going under tremendous strain. And we owe it to them to support them in every way we can.

Of course, the majority of people - more than 85 per cent - in residential care in Kent are not in KCC care homes but in independent ones. As well as training our own staff we spend more than £500,000 a year on training care workers in the independent sector to help them too provide the best possible care.

We are also doing our best to extend the network of volunteers who already do such a wonderful job of befriending and assisting older people in Kent.

A new project, Brighter Futures, is putting volunteers - mainly active retired people - in touch with older people who may need a phone call to remind them to take their medication or would like regular chats or visits.

Brighter Futures (which we have set up in partnership with voluntary organisations, our colleagues in health, and other councils) also runs shopping trips, exercise classes, and telephone helplines for older people.

Part of helping older people to stay well and independent is ensuring they claim all the benefits they are entitled to.

Research shows that poverty leads to ill-health. No surprises there. Yet the process of applying can be so stressful, time-consuming and confusing that sometimes people give up. So we are introducing specialist Finance and Benefit Teams in Adult Services to help.

At the other end of the age spectrum, it is important that disabled teenagers are given the support they need as they reach the end of their schooling and consider what they want to do next.

Reaching adulthood and becoming independent is difficult for all young people, but for youngsters with physical impairments or learning difficulties who may need support to get around, continue their learning or training, or live away from their parents - things their contemporaries take for granted - it can be make or break.

It’s crucial that we plan with young people so they can fulfill their dreams too, and in Towards 2010 we undertake to do that.

Of course, however good our blueprint, there will be many challenges to come. It is crucial that central government recognises the financial pressures that an ageing population places on local government and adjusts funding accordingly.

But people in Kent can be confident that Kent County Council Adult Services is preparing for the challenges and opportunities ahead and is doing everything it can to ensure they retain choice, independence and dignity throughout their lives.