NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 27th April 2005
A MANIFESTO FOR OLDER PEOPLE
WHO NEED NURSING HOME CARE
In a manifesto published today (27th April), the Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA) calls on all the UK’s political parties to do more to help older people who need nursing home care.
Many older people are feeling overlooked in this election, claims the RNHA, which says the way in which society meets the needs of older people in later life should be no less caring and comprehensive than the way in which other sections of the population are treated.
In future, the RNHA wants the level of both NHS and social services payments for nursing home care to be set by independent tribunals rather than national or local politicians. This, it argues, is the only way to guarantee that vulnerable older people will have their care costs met in full.
The current NHS contribution towards nursing home patients’ care costs - theoretically intended to pay for the care provided by registered nurses - fails to meet the actual costs incurred, says the RNHA.
In a typical 25-place nursing home, the shortfall is estimated to be around £750 a week. With over 160,000 people in nursing homes across the UK, it means they are being short-changed by nearly a quarter of a billion pounds a year.
The problem is compounded, claims the RNHA, by the fact that the two thirds of patients who qualify to have the rest of their nursing home costs met by their local authority social services department find that, on average, there is an £86 a week gap between the money they receive and the real cost of their care.
Furthermore, around one third of patients - many of them on relatively modest means - receive no financial help at all from social services.
In its April 2005 report on continuing care, the House of Commons Health Committee concluded that “elderly people still find themselves subject to a bewildering funding system which few patients or carers would describe as fair or guaranteeing their security”.
Said RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell: “It is not at all surprising that the Health Committee should come to this conclusion. The whole funding system is fatally flawed because it does not actually deliver in practice what it purports to deliver. Many older people think that their nursing home care costs will be met from public funds when, in fact, they are not met.”
He added: “What we need is a system that is independent of political control. The amounts paid by the NHS and social services should be assessed by a panel of independent experts who, on an annual basis, calculate the true cost of providing an agreed standard of care in different parts of the country. Local authorities should then be required to pay a rate that is considered fair for their region.”
In its manifesto, the RNHA argues that older people who fund their own care should not be expected to subsidise the care costs of other patients. In other words, nursing homes should not be put in a position where, because of the under-funding of places occupied by patients whose costs are supposedly met by the NHS and social services, they have to charge self-funding patients an artificially higher fee in order to recoup the shortfall.
The manifesto also calls for older people’s choice of the type of care they prefer to be free from the presumptions made by politicians about what is or is not acceptable. It is up to the government, it says, to ensure the availability of a broad range of high quality services which offer them a genuine choice.
Thousands of copies of the manifesto have been distributed to nursing homes throughout the UK, as well as to the candidates of all the main political parties contesting the general election.
END
Notes to editors:
* The Registered Nursing Home Association represents over 1,300 nursing home across the United Kingdom.
* The RNHA’s Manifesto for Older People who need Nursing Home Care, calls on the UK’s political parties to commit themselves to the following 10 points:
1. Older people should be able to choose the type of care which best suits their needs, circumstances and preferences.
2. Older people should have their nursing care costs met in full by the NHS.
3. Older people are entitled to expect the rate of the NHS contribution to their care costs to be determined by an independent tribunal that is free from direct government control or influence.
4. Older people who qualify to have the remainder of their nursing home care costs met by their local authority social services department should receive a level of funding which genuinely reflects the costs incurred in providing that care.
5. Older people admitted to nursing homes are entitled to expect the amount paid by their local authority social services department to be determined independently by a panel of experts in assessing the actual costs of providing care to agreed standards.
6. Older people being assessed for their long-term health needs should not have to undergo more than one multi-disciplinary assessment process.
7. Older people should expect their services to be planned jointly at a local level by the NHS, social services and independent and voluntary sectors care providers.
8. Older people receiving care, whether provided in their own homes or in a care home, are entitled to standards designed to ensure the best possible outcome for their health and well-being.
9. Older people who fund their own nursing home care should not be expected to subsidise the care costs of other patients.
10. Older people are entitled to expect the government to ensure the availability of a broad range of high quality services which offer them a genuine choice of types and settings of care to meet their diverse needs, including a choice between nursing homes in their area.
For further information please contact:
Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, Registered Nursing Home Association
Tel: 0121-454 2511 or 07785 277000 (mobile)
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