NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 20th April 2004
CALL TO CURB FINANCIAL ABUSE OF OLDER PEOPLE
BY FAILURE TO FUND CARE
Broadly welcoming today’s recommendations from the House of Commons Health Committee on ways of tackling elder abuse, the Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA) has called for decisive action to curb the ‘financial abuse’ of older people by the Government.
The RNHA, which gave evidence to the Health Committee during its formal hearings, claims that older people are still being cheated out of their rightful access to nursing home care.
The association points to the Appeal court’s judgement in the Coughlan case, which determined that the NHS was responsible for meeting the total cost of a nursing home placement when a person’s need is primarily for health care.
Nothing has been done, says the RNHA, to abide by the decision. As a result, tens of thousands of patients are forced to fund their own care, apart from a relatively small contribution from NHS funds.
For those who do qualify on income grounds for State support, the RNHA claims that a very high proportion of local authority social services departments continue to offer a less than economic fee to nursing homes providing the care. This has ‘knock on’ effects, making it difficult for nursing homes to recruit and retain staff.
RNHA chief executive officer, Frank Ursell, commented: “We have no doubt that the Health Committee’s recommendations, if acted upon, will go some way to rooting out elder abuse wherever it occurs. But it could be argued that, in many ways, the Government itself is abusing older people by putting them at the bottom of the pecking order in the allocation of resources.”
He added: “Ageism itself is an insidious form of abuse. The lack of priority given to meeting the needs of Britain’s elderly reflects this. To that extent, the Health Committee’s definition of abuse is too narrow.”
END
Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, Registered Nursing Home Association
(Tel: 07785 227000 mobile or 0121-454 2511 office or 0121-445 1861 home)
Notes to editors:
1. The RNHA represents around 1,200 nursing homes across the United Kingdom.
2. The House of Commons Health Committee Report on Elder Abuse was published
today (Tuesday, 20th April 2004).
3. The Coughlan judgement by the Court of Appeal in July 1999 concerned the case
of Pamela Coughlan, who had previously sought a judicial review of the former
North East Devon Health Authority’s refusal to provide her with free nursing care.
The Court of Appeal ruled that the NHS is responsible for paying the total cost of a
nursing home placement when a person’s need is primarily for health care.
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