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NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 3rd April 2001
NURSING HOMES CALL ON WEST MIDLANDS
LOCAL AUTHORITIES TO MATCH GOVERNMENT'S LEAD
ON INCOME SUPPORT PAYMENTS
Nursing homes have today welcomed the Government's announcement that income support for patients in nursing homes will rise this year by double the rate originally proposed. They have called on local authorities in the West Midlands to reflect this move in the fees they pay to nursing homes.
Patients who still rely on income support to fund their care will receive a 3.7% increase - equivalent to around £12 a week - instead of the 1.8% figure they had been expecting. The increase will take place in two stages.
Commented Registered Nurse Home Association (RNHA) chief executive officer Frank Ursell: "This is good news for patients and good news for the nursing homes that have been struggling to provide high quality care against a tide of rising costs. We are pleased that the Government has recognised the plight of the nursing home sector."
Income support payments through the social security system are relied upon by around 70,000 nursing home patients with 'preserved rights'. They were already in nursing homes in 1993 when the Community Care Act transferred funding responsibility to local authority social services departments.
The Government's decision will automatically raise payments to nursing homes for the 'preserved rights' patients. But the RNHA has expressed concern about fees paid by local authorities, some of which already pay below the income support rate.
Said Mr Ursell: "We are calling on local authorities to follow the Government's lead and increase their payments in line with the income support rate. On average, this would put the weekly rate for a publicly funded nursing home payment up to around £342. Whilst many homes will still find it difficult to manage, margins are so tight that every extra pound helps."
He added: "For far too long, this country has been trying to get elderly care on the cheap. Whilst the Government's decision about income support does not radically transform the picture, it is at least a small step in the right direction and sends a clear signal to social services departments. All of them ought to follow suit as quickly as possible if they do not want to find themselves singled out as the scrooges of local government."
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For further information please contact: Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, Registered Nursing Home Association (Tel: 0121-454 2511 or mobile 07785 227000)
Notes to editors:
1. The Registered Nursing Home Association represents over 1,000 nursing homes across the United Kingdom. It has been pressing the Government to recognise the financial problems faced by the nursing home sector.
2. Announcement of the Government's decision to increase income support benefits to people in nursing homes by a total of 3.7% came on Tuesday, 2nd April 2001 in the form of a written answer by Alistair Darling, Social Security Secretary, to a Parliamentary question by Mr John Smith, MP. In his answer, Mr Darling says: "From this April the maximum benefit paid to people in residential care and nursing homes will increase by 1.8% and by a further 1.9% later this year. This is the first above inflation increase since 1993 and gives a total increase of 3.7%. It will be implemented at the earliest possible opportunity and will benefit 70,000 people whose care costs are met through the preserved rights arrangements."
3. Patients who were not already in nursing homes on 1st April 1993 either fund themselves (around a third of the total) or, subject to eligibility, have their fees paid by local authority social services departments. Whilst many local authorities use the income support rate for preserved rights patients as the baseline for what they will pay for nursing home care, some pay less than that.
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