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NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 18th November 2003
CALL FOR GOVERNMENT RE-THINK ON DOMICILIARY CARE
Regulation of the domiciliary care sector is not as robust as it should be, the Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA) said today, urging the government to do more to protect dependent and vulnerable older people being cared for at home and to review guidelines about the way individuals’ needs are assessed and met.
The RNHA’s comments follow a report on last Sunday’s Panorama programme, which highlighted serious problems in domiciliary care.
RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell said the programme had confirmed his own association’s concerns about the appropriateness of domiciliary care for some highly dependent individuals with multiple needs. It had also heightened the disquiet felt by both the RNHA and others about the government’s insistence that domiciliary care is preferable to residential care.
Said Mr Ursell: “For many people, domiciliary care is the right solution, provided that the care is up to the required standards and is monitored as tightly as residential care. We need to question, however, whether it is the right solution for some individuals whose frailty has reached a point where they can do nothing at all without the help of the paid for carer dropping in for just half an hour or an hour a day. We must also ask ourselves what effect this has on their quality of life.”
He added: “I hope the programme comes as a salutary warning shot to the government, which has over recent years tended to adopt the dogmatic view that domiciliary care is best. In some cases it is, but not in all. There needs to be a more realistic and balanced view taken by national policy-makers and by the local authorities which commission care for older people.
“Sadly, domiciliary care is often preferred by funding bodies because it comes with extra government financial support and because they see it as a cheaper option than looking after someone in a nursing home. This penny-pinching approach fails to meet individuals’ real needs, which is where we should all be focusing our attention.”
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For further information and comment please contact:
Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, RNHA
Tel: 0121-454 2511 mobile 07785 227000
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