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NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 20th December 2001
STOP TREATING NURSING HOME PATIENTS
LIKE 'SECOND CLASS CITIZENS':
PLEA TO GOVERNMENT TO RAISE STATE FUNDING
TO LEVEL THAT COVERS ACTUAL COSTS
The Registered Nursing Home Association today welcomed the government's latest pay award to nurses, whilst putting in a plea for an equivalent or larger rise in the amount of money which State-funded patients in nursing homes receive towards the cost of their care.
Some nurses - those at the higher end of the pay scale - are set to receive up to 6.6 per cent. Newly qualified physiotherapists, occupational therapists and radiographers will get an extra 7.5 per cent.
Acknowledging that the increases for health care professionals were both deserved and needed in order to reward commitment and retain highly trained staff, the RNHA reminded the government not to leave patients in the lurch in the New Year.
Around three quarters of nursing home patients rely mainly on State funding - through local social services departments - to meet the cost of their care.
But with payments currently less than £50 a day in most cases, and with social services budgets for older people being cut back in favour of other priorities, the RNHA claims that the care sector for this group of the population is being starved into financial crisis.
Said RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell: "The government likes to court headlines with so-called inflation-beating rises for the professionals. However, its generosity is often absent when it comes to funding the care of older people, who tend to have less political clout than many other groups in society."
He added: "Nursing homes in the independent and voluntary sectors will want to reflect the recent pay increases announced by the government to their own staff.
But with so many of them closing their doors for good because the cost of the care they provide exceeds the amount they receive for State-funded patients, they will be hard pressed indeed. The time has come for the government to stop treating nursing home patients as second class citizens."
It costs around £200 a day to keep most patients in hospital, whilst nursing homes looking after chronically sick and highly dependant patients are expected to provide everything for less than £50 a day. This equation, says the RNHA, is unrealistic and unfair to older people.
END
For further information and comment, please contact:
Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, Registered Nursing Home Association
Tel: 0121-454 2511 or mobile 07785 227000
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