NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION IN WALES
Issued 8th April 2002
SOCIAL SERVICES ACCUSED OF
'DOUBLE STANDARDS' ON PAY
Social services departments in Wales are being accused of 'double standards' when it comes to staff wages.
According to the Registered Nursing Home Association in Wales, local authorities pay their own care assistants at least 20 per more than nursing homes can afford to pay theirs.
On average, about two thirds of patients in nursing homes have their care funded by social services. But, claim nursing homes, the level of those fees has been pegged so low for so long that they can only just afford to offer care assistants an hourly rate at or around the minimum wage.
Social services, by contrast, pay staff in their own elderly care homes more and, as a result, provide a more costly service.
Said Mr Anthony Ramsey-Williams, chairman of the RNHA in Wales: "There is a certain hypocrisy about local authorities paying higher wages than we can, which means their own homes are more costly to run than ours, and then screwing our fees down to the floor so that it is difficult for us to recruit and retain staff. In effect, they are in a strong position to be able to steal our staff as a direct result of their own policies."
He added: "If it were not for the commitment of care staff in nursing homes, things would be in an even sorrier state. But we already rely heavily on agency staff to plug the gaps. This is an expensive and unsatisfactory solution which cannot be sustained in the long-term."
This latest criticism of social services follows the release of statistics by the Welsh Assembly revealing that as many as 70 per cent of all the people working in the health care sector are likely to have left their jobs by 2010.
Said Mr Ramsey-Williams: "If this forecast is accurate, as I believe it is, then in just a few years' time we shall face a monumental shortage of staff who are willing and able to care for vulnerable older people who need 24-hour care. This will coincide with a rise in the very elderly population. There is a demographic disaster waiting for us at the end of this tunnel unless our leaders take decisive action now."
END
For further information please contact:
Anthony Ramsey-Williams, Chairman of the Registered Nursing Home Association in Wales
(Tel: 01792 235134)
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