The company developing a controversial “Airbnb for social care” model allowing homeowners to rent spare rooms to recuperating hospital patients is bidding to launch a new trial in Cambridge.
Private start up CareRooms was forced to abort its first pilot, exclusively revealed by HSJ, with the NHS in Essex in November, after patient groups and social care directors raised safeguarding concerns about care being provided by non-care professionals.
But it is now establishing a “working group” with Cambridgeshire County Council and has begun advertising for “host” households in the county, which includes the East Cambridgeshire constituency of junior health minister Stephen Barclay.
The Conservative controlled council confirmed the new group would meet for the first time imminently to discuss the “innovative CareRooms concept”. The council has not committed to pilot the model yet.…read more
