MORE than £67 million is to be spent on a new care partnership to help disabled residents across the county.

Hampshire County Council has agreed to invest the cash in care technology over the next ten years to support the growing number of elderly people and younger adults with conditions in Hampshire.

This includes £31,380,000 over the next five years and £36,030,000 in the subsequent five.

In total, £67,410,000 has been allocated for investment.

At her recent decision day, Councillor Liz Fairhurst, the authority’s adult social care and health head gave the go ahead for the new Technology Enabled Care (TEC) contract to start in December.

She said: “This is a significant funding decision by the county council, underlining our commitment to using technology to support vulnerable adults, both young and old, and our confidence in the improved quality of life it brings for those who need help.

“Over the next few years, as demand for support grows, we are aiming to increase the number of council adult social care clients benefitting from the use of care technology from the current 9,600 per year to more than 14,000.”

As part of the new contract, a ‘private pay’ service will also be launched which will enable adults, who do not qualify for adult social care support, to purchase an array of care technology products now available to the council’s social care clients.

Third parties, including other local authorities and NHS partners, will also be able to buy Technology Enabled Care services from the county council.

A spokesperson for the authority added: “Through its current partnership, the county council is recognised as an industry leader in the use of technology in adult social care, both nationally and internationally.

“This has been demonstrated most recently through its ‘world first’ trial of the use of Amazon’s Alexa voice activated technology to support adults with physical disabilities to continue living independently in their own homes.”