NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 16th May 2005
WILL THE NEW HEALTH SECRETARY BE A BETTER
LISTENER THAN HER PREDECESSORS? - NURSING HOMES ASK
A plea for a more inclusive style of policy-making and implementation has gone out to newly appointed Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt from leaders of the UK’s nursing home sector.
Responding today to a statement from Mrs Hewitt that she intended to spend the next three months listening and learning from the real experts, the Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA) expressed the hope that she would prove to be a better listener than her two predecessors had been.
The RNHA wants an early meeting with Mrs Hewitt to explore with her the opportunities for nursing homes’ most experienced healthcare professionals and managers to work alongside NHS and social service policy-makers in planning improved services for older people.
Valuable expertise and knowledge is being wasted, the RNHA claims, because NHS organisations and local authority social services do not adequately consult and involve nursing homes when they are developing their strategies for meeting the health needs of their local populations.
Commented RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell: “Since Labour came to power in 1997, nursing homes seem to have been treated as minor players in the delivery of services. Yet, in reality, the 5,000 or so nursing homes in the UK provide more care for vulnerable older people than the whole of the NHS.”
He added: “Over the past eight years, it has often felt as though nursing home patients, staff, managers and owners were regarded by the Government as irrelevant.
We should like the new Secretary of State to wipe the slate clean and to engage productively with us in a genuine dialogue about how we can work more effectively together for the benefit of patients.”
Specifically, the RNHA wishes to discuss with Mrs Hewitt and her ministerial team:
* how nursing homes can best work with primary care trusts and acute hospitals in
delivering intermediate care for older people;
* ways of ensuring that care standards focus more on achieving good health
outcomes for older people rather than on administrative processes and paperwork;
* securing the financial stability of nursing homes in order to ensure that all parts
of the UK have sufficient places available for patients who need 24-hour
residential nursing care in the future;
* a guarantee to older people that, if they are assessed as needing nursing home
care, they will be free to choose that option if they and their families believe it
is in their best interests.
During the recent general election campaign, the RNHA pressed hard for a fairer system of funding that would cover the actual costs of providing nursing home care to those patients who are eligible for social services support in meeting those costs.
Said Mr Ursell: “This is surely a thorny problem that the new Health Secretary cannot shirk. It will be a test of her political ability and her commitment to high standards of care for older people.”
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
|
