NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 27th June 2002
LOCAL COUNCILS IN THE SOUTH WEST NOWHERE NEAR A ‘FAIR PRICE’ FOR CARE OF OLDER PEOPLE: NURSING HOMES ASK: ARE THEY CONTENT TO BE THE ‘SKINFLINTS’?
Not one social services department in the South West is 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 South Western local authorities are way off the mark when it comes to paying a fair price.
Most of the authorities in the region pay between about £350 and £390 per person per week, well below the £459 threshold recommended by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
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 providing care to 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 the South West 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 South Western authorities are amongst the worst payers in the country when it comes to funding care for older people who need 24-hour residential nursing care.
The figures paid by social services are as follows. The highest rates quoted are not necessarily paid in every case but may depend on quality thresholds being met.
Bath and North East Somerset: £369 a week
Bournemouth: £384 a week
Bristol: £351 a week
Cornwall: £375 a week
Dorset: £390 a week
Gloucestershire: Between £366 and £392 a week
North Somerset: £352 a week
Plymouth: £369 a week
Poole: £383 a week
Somerset: £370 a week
South Gloucestershire: £355 a week
Swindon: £382 a week
Torbay: £372 a week
Wiltshire: £375 a week
The RNHA stresses that most South Western authorities will need to increase their weekly rate by around £80 to £100 a week in order to be regarded as paying a fair price.
Said Frank Ursell: “The question is: do local authorities in this part of the world want to meet their social responsibilities or are they content to be seen as the ‘skinflints’ of care for older people?”
He added: “If things carry on as they are in the South West, we could see this region anchoring itself firmly 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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