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NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 2nd December 2002
COUNTY COUNCIL’S CARE BEDS PLAN
‘BAD VALUE FOR MONEY’ CLAIM
‘Bad value for money’ is how Hampshire County’s Councils plan to build nursing homes with a total of 500 beds has been described by the Registered Nursing Home Association, which represents around 1,500 nursing homes across the United Kingdom.
The RNHA says future generations of taxpayers in Hampshire will regret the day that County bosses decided to go down the ‘do it yourself’ route to providing adequate facilities for vulnerable older people needing round the clock nursing care.
Under the County Council’s proposals, each place will cost around £120,000 to create when building and equipment costs are taken into account. This contrasts with the £39,000 per place it generally costs the private sector to establish new nursing homes.
Commented RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell: “It is difficult to see the financial logic behind such a decision.”
The RNHA has also criticised the Council for having contributed through its previous policies towards the shortfall of nursing home beds which it is now citing as the reason for having to go down this more expensive road.
Said Mr Ursell: “Independent analysis by the Rowntree Foundation and the Laing & Buisson organisation has shown that local authority social services departments across the country pay private nursing homes an average of £75 to £85 a week per patient less than it actually costs to provide the necessary level and quality of care.”
He added: “That is why so many nursing homes, in Hampshire and elsewhere, have been forced to close. Their income from social services falls well short of their expenditure. But having brought this situation about by chronic under-funding, Hampshire County Council appears to be willing to use taxpayers’ money to create its own nursing homes at a cost which would be unimaginable in the independent sector.”
The Registered Nursing Home Association believes that a solution to the shortage of nursing home beds in parts of Hampshire could be achieved more effectively and more economically if the County’s social services department were willing engage in genuine collaboration with the independent sector and pay a fair rate for the care provided by local nursing homes.
Said Mr Ursell: “Local authority-run facilities generally cost a lot more than the equivalent in the private sector. Wouldn’t it make better sense for the County Council to work in true partnership with the private sector, rather than opting for grandiose schemes which will create a very expensive alternative?”
The RNHA points to the fact that, under the Council’s plan, each bed created will cost about £500 a week to maintain.
“If the Council had previously been willing to pay that level of fees to the independent sector, there would not have been a shortage of beds in the first place,” said Mr Ursell. “Indeed, if it now offers £500 a week per patient to independent nursing home operators, this would almost certainly attract many of them to reinvest in facilities for older people in the county.”
END
For further information and comment please contact:
Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, Registered Nursing Home Association
Tel: 0121-454 2511 or 07785 227000 mobile
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