Frequently Asked Questions

Extra Care Housing is not a residential or care home setting. It is for people who can live independently with a small amount of support.

Extra Care Housing is managed and maintained by Guernsey Housing Association, with Health and Social Care providing the care and support service. Extra Care Housing offers you the opportunity to live in your own home, with your own front door but with care and support from the designated team. You will live independently but with a close community by your side and access to care and support services tailored to your individual needs. There is also an on-site 24 hour emergency response service in case you need it. There are lots of activities to take part in, if you choose to. The community within these environments also offer you the chance to have friends nearby too.

 You get the freedom to live independently with the support that you need.

The on-site care and support team can help with the following tasks:

• Assisting with personal care needs, such as getting out of bed, washing, dressing or taking medication
• Assisting tenants with applying creams and ointments
• Prompts with personal hygiene, taking medication, cleaning and daily tasks
• Help reading paperwork
• Help with meal preparation
• Help to monitor prescriptions and overseeing ordering and collection of medication
• Assistance with minor dressings etc
• Monitoring of physical and mental health and referring to health professionals when needed

If the Scheme Manager decides that your care and support needs do not meet the eligibility criteria, but your property could be modified to improve your quality of life they will, with your permission, refer their findings to Housing or other health agencies, who will discuss your options with you. Housing will look to see if you can be moved to accommodation that better meets your needs. If you are not in social housing, Housing will tell you if you are eligible to apply.

If there are concerns over whether you can continue to live safely in your property, the care and support team may refer you back to the Social Work team for reassessment for Extra Care Housing. This assessment will be similar to your initial assessment and will determine whether you require more care and support than what the Extra Care team can offer. People’s care and support needs may naturally change over time, especially during periods of illness, but if it is decided that your care needs will not reduce over time and your safety is compromised, you may be more suitable for residential or nursing care. If this is the case, the Social Work team will guide you and your family through this process.

It depends on your circumstances and how often an extra care flat becomes available.

When an extra care flat becomes available, the Scheme Manager will meet with the Nominations Panel. They will decide who should be offered the flat from the waiting list. The Nominations Panel is made up of representatives from the GHA and Health and Social Care.

Each extra care housing development aims to have a mix of ages and an equal mix of people with low, medium and high care and support needs. In addition if a person can afford partial ownership then they will not be offered a rented flat.

The Nominations Panel will therefore offer each available flat to someone from its waiting lists based on a number of different factors. This means that it may not be the person who has been waiting the longest or has the highest care and support needs.

If you are offered a flat at a different development to the one you selected on your application form, you have the right to turn down the offer. If you turn down an offer from your preferred development without good reason, you will be taken off the waiting list and asked to reapply when you are ready for extra care housing.

The GHA has two extra care developments in Guernsey. There are 92 flats at Le Grand Courtil, St Martin’s and 73 flats at La Nouvelle Maraitaine in the Vale. The GHA manages and maintains both developments with Health & Social Care providing the care and support service.

All the flats are designed for wheelchair use with level access showers in wet rooms that can be accessed from the hallway or bedroom. They can also accommodate mobility scooters and specialist equipment such as hoists. Most flats have access to a balcony or patio and all communal gardens are accessible for wheelchairs.

You may also keep suitable pets with the permission of the GHA. Please refer to the keeping pets procedure.

The one and two-bed flats are suitable for single people, couples and parents living with a disabled adult child provided at least one person in the household needs care and support. You can therefore live with your partner, children, relatives, friends and carers, provided there is room and the Nominations Panel agrees beforehand. 

If the Scheme Manager decides that you do need at least four hours of care and support a week, they will refer your application to the Needs Assessment Panel which is administered by Health and Social Care. They will review your application together with the Scheme Manager’s assessment. If they decide you are eligible then they will issue an Extra Care Housing Certificate and you will be placed on the waiting list.

 If appropriate, you will at this point be contacted by the GHA to talk about partial ownership.

The Needs Assessment Panel might disagree with the Scheme Manager and decide that the level of care you require is too low, or too high, for extra care housing.

In either scenario your application will be referred back to Housing. Additionally, if your care needs are too high for extra care, the Panel will refer your case to the social work team within the Health and Social Care team.

Whatever the Panel decides with regards to your care needs, you can ask for the decision to be reviewed.

If you are the only person in your flat who is eligible for extra care housing and you stop living there or you pass away, then everyone else will be asked to leave. They will be given time to find alternative accommodation.

If you own a partial ownership property, only those people named on the lease have the right to remain in the property. If a sole leaseholder dies, the house will be automatically sold back to the GHA and the other members of the household will have to leave.

There is another extra care development called Rosaire Court and Gardens at Rosaire Avenue, St Peter Port. This is run by another housing association called Housing 21. For more information, contact 01481 739820.