NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 27th March 2002
NURSING HOME LEADERS WELCOME INTRODUCTION OF CONSISTENT CARE STANDARDS BUT WARN THE GOVERNMENT OF A 'MESS OF ITS OWN MAKING'
New national care standards that come into effect in nursing homes next Monday
(1st April 2002) should help to ensure greater consistency across hundreds of local authority and health authority boundaries in England and Wales, the Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA) said today.
The RNHA is pleased to see the end of what it calls 'the prevailing nightmare' in which a hotchpotch of standards are differently interpreted and applied by 250 registration and inspection authorities.
The association's chief executive Frank Ursell commented: "Fundamentally, we are in favour of national standards. Overall, I am sure that nursing home patients will benefit from them. Nursing home owners and staff will also be clearer about what is required of them."
But, claims the association, the Government's failure to halt the closure of thousands of nursing homes since it came into office has forced it to adopt a 'softly, softly approach' towards the enforcement of the new standards.
Said Mr Ursell: "We know that Ministers have told the new National Care Standards Commission to tread carefully in applying a number of the standards. Whilst we welcome some flexibility and common sense, the irony is that the Government's overall policies towards the financial plight of the nursing home sector have already forced many good homes out of business. Now the Government are having to back-track on some standards because they can't afford the sector to collapse altogether."
He added: "If the Government had been more willing to listen to the RNHA's concerns over the past two years, we might have been able to prevent the closure of many homes that were delivering high quality care but couldn't meet their costs because of the low fees they were receiving for publicly funded patients.
"Instead, the Government is faced with a mess of its own making. Too late in the day it has realised the scale of the crisis in the independent care sector. Perversely, its apparent willingness to compromise on the application of some of the regulations could end up letting some of the poorer homes off the hook. This Government has got to learn to listen and not to be so dismissive of views which don't feed its own blinkered mindset."
The RNHA is calling on the Government to earmark new resources to local authorities so that adequate fees can be paid for publicly funded patients in nursing home care. This, it says, is the only way to guarantee that standards will rise."
END
For further information please contact:
Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, Registered Nursing Home Association
Tel: mobile 07785 227000 at any time or 0121-454 2511 (office)
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