NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 27th June 2002
LOCAL COUNCILS IN EAST ANGLIA NOT PAYING A ‘FAIR PRICE’
FOR CARE OF OLDER PEOPLE
Social services departments in East Anglia are generally not paying anything like the weekly rate for an older person’s nursing home care that has been recommended in an independent report just published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Research by the Foundation suggests that a fair price for local authorities to pay for nursing home care would be around £459 per week. This takes account of average wages paid to care staff across the country, as well as all the other costs involved in running a nursing home including land and property prices.
The Registered Nursing Home Association, which represents nearly 1,500 homes across the UK, says most East Anglian social services departments are way off the mark when it comes to paying a fair price.
Prices paid in the region tend mainly to be between about £360 and £400 per person per week, well below the £459 threshold recommended by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Even in those parts of Cambridgeshire where up to £470 a week is currently paid, the RNHA says a proportionately greater fee is needed to offset the greater costs involved in providing care in places with higher than average wages and property prices. Over £500 a week would be fairer in these cases, the association claims.
Frank Ursell, chief executive officer of the RNHA, says both the government and local authorities in the region need to wake up to the economic realities of looking after highly dependent older people.
He and his association are calling on the government to increase their financial support for social care, but to ring-fence the extra money so that local authorities cannot divert the funds to other budgets.
The RNHA wants social services departments throughout East Anglia to match the Joseph Rowntree Foundation ‘fair price’ as quickly as possible in order to prevent yet more nursing homes from joining the hundreds which have been forced to close over recent years, and to enable homes to meet new care standards laid down by the government.
A recent survey has revealed that the four East Anglian social services departments are currently paying the following figures. The highest rates quoted are not necessarily paid in every case but may depend on quality thresholds being met or on the geographical location of the nursing home concerned.
Norfolk: Between £370 and £375 a week
Suffolk: £361 a week
Cambridgeshire: £397 a week but up to £470 in certain locations
Peterborough: £376 a week
Norfolk, Suffolk and Peterborough would need to increase their weekly rates by around £80 to £100 a week in order to be regarded as paying a fair price.
Cambridgeshire would need to increase its basic and top rates by at least £50 to £60 a week.
Said Frank Ursell: “The question is: do local authorities in this part of the world want to meet their social responsibilities?”
He added: “If no action is taken, this region could eventually find itself at the bottom of the national league table when it comes to spending money on older people. What an indictment that would be on civic leaders. Let us hope, for the sake of our old folk with nursing needs, that they set their sights on being around the top of the league.”
END
For further information and comment please contact:
Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, Registered Nursing Home Association
Tel: 0121-454 2511 or 07785 227000 mobile
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