NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION IN WALES
Issued 25th March 2002
PEMBROKESHIRE NURSING HOMES
ACCUSE SOCIAL SERVICES DIRECTOR OF
'DIRTY TRICKS' OVER PUBLICLY FUNDED PATIENTS
Nursing homes in Pembrokeshire have accused the county's social care and housing director, Jon Skone, of a 'war of dirty tricks' to stave off having to pay an economic fee for publicly funded patients.
The homes are now demanding a public apology for what they call 'outrageous and totally inaccurate' comments made by Mr Skone in a letter he has sent to patients' relatives. They have written to the county council's chief executive to protest about Mr Skone's actions and are considering possible legal action if the letter is not retracted.
To set the record straight and put families' minds at rest, the homes have called a meeting at the Cleddau Bridge Hotel next Thursday (28th March at 5.30 pm).
They have written directly to the families to reassure them that patients funded by social services in private nursing homes have a right to choose where they want to be cared for and cannot be evicted by social services.
At the core of the current dispute is the fact that the homes have asked Pembrokeshire Social Services for an increase from April 2002 to cover the rapidly escalating costs of providing high quality care and meeting new Government standards.
Previously, they have received only a very small annual rise which has not kept pace with their outgoings on pay, general running costs and improvements. Wages have increased by as much as 30 per cent in three years. Over the same period, fees for publicly funded patients rose by only 8 per cent.
The Registered Nursing Home Association in Wales claims that Pembrokeshire Social Services is misleading patients and their relatives. This, it says, is creating unnecessary anxiety in their minds about the care of their loved ones beyond the end of March.
Commented RNHA in Wales chairman Anthony Ramsey-Williams, himself a nursing home owner within the county: "It is very sad that social services have descended to such dirty tactics to cover up the fact that they have refused to pay a level of fees which, according to independent research, is needed to secure the necessary quality of care for people unable to afford the costs themselves."
He added: "It is time for patients' families, nursing homes and all those who care deeply about the welfare of vulnerable older people to rise up in protest at the high-handed, sanctimonious attitude of social services, whose only interest appears to pay out as little as possible for nursing home patients whilst they themselves run much more costly care homes of their own. These double standards are crippling the long-term care sector."
In his letter to patients' relatives, Mr Skone claimed that nine local nursing homes which had asked for an increase in fees were 'attempting to use vulnerable older people as a means to force an increase'. This, say the homes, is a callous distortion of the truth and a slander against their reputations.
END
For further information and comment please contact:
Anthony Ramsey-Williams, chairman of the RNHA in Wales
Tel: 01792 235134
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