NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 6th December 2004
COUNCILS NO LONGER ABLE TO HIDE THEIR OBLIGATIONS TO BRITAIN’S ‘CINDERELLAS’ - NURSING HOMES REACT TO CHANCELLOR’S PRE-BUDGET REPORT
Reacting to the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s pre-budget report, the Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA) said the £1 billion extra spending power being made available to local authorities next year would give social services departments no excuse for shirking their responsibilities to older people.
In a statement today, the RNHA has called on local authorities to review their spending plans on services for older people, particularly those requiring long-term care.
The association believes that no council can hide any longer behind the claim that providing a decent level of funding to people in nursing homes would result in excessive rises in council tax.
RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell said: “With an extra £1 billion available to them, councils can turn their attention to the needs of Britain’s cinderellas, who are definitely those frail senior citizens who need 24-hour nursing care.”
He added: “As things stand, most councils are only paying nursing homes an amount per patient that wouldn’t get you a bed in a fairly cheap hotel. Yet nursing homes have to employ qualified nursing staff and provide round the clock care. But with their windfall from the government, it is to be hoped that at long last local authorities will honour their obligations to some of the country’s most needy and vulnerable people.”
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For further information please contact: Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, RNHA Tel: 0121-454 2511 or mobile 07785 227000.
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