NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 22nd December 2004
OLDER PEOPLE LOSE OUT AS GOVERNMENT
CAPS RISE IN NHS CONTRIBUTION TO CARE COSTS
Older people are yet again being short-changed by the Government, it was claimed today following an announcement of the amounts to be paid by the NHS towards the cost of nursing provided in care homes from April 2005.
A statement issued by health minister Stephen Ladyman was described as ‘extremely disappointing, verging on the unbelievable’ by the Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA), which said it could see no justification at all for freezing the lowest payment band at its current level of £40 per week.
With figures in the middle and upper bands set to rise by only £3.50 to £4 per week (from £77.50 to £80 and from £125 to £129), the RNHA said the tone of the Government’s announcement was as if it expected older people to be humbly grateful for the paltry sums they were being offered.
Commented RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell: “For the many tens of thousands of patients who have to fund their own care in nursing homes - and for whom the NHS contribution to their costs is therefore extremely important - the proposed increases are a kick in the teeth. It will make virtually no difference to the amounts they have to find out of their own pockets. Nor will it help to meet the actual rises in costs faced by nursing homes.”
The costs of around two thirds of nursing home patients are met by contributions from the NHS and local authority social services departments. With the NHS share being restricted such a small increase, the RNHA foresees major funding problems ahead.
“Local authorities claim poverty on the one hand, whilst the NHS will be saying its hands are tied to either no increase at all for some patients or a minuscule increase for others,” said Mr Ursell. “This does not bode well for the Government’s much proclaimed belief in partnership between the bodies which fund care, the organisations which provide it, and the people who receive it.”
Added Mr Ursell: “Since NHS contributions towards care costs were introduced, the RNHA has said consistently that the amount of money did not adequately reflect the degree of nursing input to patients’ care. It is also ingenuous of the Government to suggest that, in the context of Agenda for Change and general improvements in NHS nurses’ terms and conditions, increases of between zero and around three per cent in the NHS contribution towards nursing care costs in the independent sector will be sufficient.”
END
For further information and comment, please contact Frank Ursell, chief executive officer, RNHA (Tel: 0121-454 2511 or mobile 07785 227000
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