NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 5th May 2005
CALL FOR NEW GOVERNMENT TO EXTEND ‘DIRECT PAYMENTS’
TO AID OLDER PEOPLE’S CHOICE OF NURSING HOME CARE
Older people who need round the clock nursing care should be able to make a positive choice to go into a nursing home if that is their preference.
As the nation goes to the polls today to elect a new Parliament, the Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA) is calling on those political parties who have been promoting greater choice in health and social care to ensure that campaign promises are put into practice.
The RNHA argues that older people’s choices about their care should not be influenced by, or subject to, presumptions made by politicians about what is or is not the most acceptable style of care.
Said RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell: “The doctrine of political correctness pre-supposes that remaining in your own home is nearly always the best solution. But for some individuals who live alone and are virtually immobile, it can mean virtual imprisonment in isolation, with just a few precious visits a week by the district nurse or meals on wheels.”
He added: “For many chronically sick older people, coming into a nursing home provides them with the company, psychological support and care they need. It can both prolong their lives and improve the quality of their lives. It is therefore wrong for politicians to make ideological judgements about the relative values of home care versus residential nursing care. Both have their place. What matters is the way in which the individual patient responds to such options.”
With a new Government in place by the end of the week, the RNHA will be pressing for older people to be guaranteed a right to choose nursing home care over other options, provided that their choice is supported by independent professional assessment of their needs.
The RNHA also wants to see the direct payments scheme favoured by some political parties extended to enable older people use the money to fund their nursing home care.
Said Mr Ursell: “If politicians argue that older people should be given more control over their lives and should be in the driving seat when vital decisions are made about the type and setting of care they receive, it follows that older people should be given the necessary resources to enable them to exercise a genuine choice. Otherwise, the political rhetoric is not worth the paper it is written on.”
END
For further information and comment please contact:
Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, RNHA
Tel: 0121-454 2511 or mobile 07785 227000
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