MP highlights growing need for OAP care

The Sunshine Day Centre in Waterlooville welcomed the Meon Valley MP yesterday to see the services it has to offer.

Mr Hollingbery met with the centre’s staff, and some of the elderly people who use the Jubilee Road centre.

While full of praise for the facility, the MP said it was not large enough to cater for the growing demand for OAP care in the area.

Mr Hollingbery said: ‘It was great fun to visit the centre, and lovely to see so many happy people in there.

‘They have a wonderful centre, but the building they occupy is clearly inadequate.’

The Sunshine Day Centre currently caters for around 100 clients from a broad area which encompasses Hayling Island, Rowlands Castle, Hambledon and Clanfield.

However, the limited space at the facility has created an obstacle in addressing an increasing need for respite care, especially amid the rise in people suffering from illnesses such as dementia.

Mr Hollingbery added: ‘There can only be so many centres but I would love to see one or two of these facilities popping up. I know that some people travel as far as Emsworth to use the centre, and that’s an awfully long way to travel.

Co-director of the centre, Marilyn Croxford, said: ‘Mr Hollingbery’s visit was fantastic. I think the needs of the over-65s need to be out in the public, and it’s only by getting people like him coming in that we’re able to let people know out there what is needed.

‘We’ve been here for nearly five years now, and we’ve grown so much since then. We just need a bigger place to be able to offer more facilities.’

Marilyn, 63, and co-director Sarah Page, 36, currently hire two additional full-time carers, as well as six part-timers.