NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 28th June 2002
LOCAL COUNCILS IN SCOTLAND 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 Scotland 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 United Kingdom, 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 throughout the UK, says Scottish local authorities are way off the mark when it comes to paying a fair price.
Most of the authorities in Scotland pay between about £330 and £400 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 Scottish Executive and local authorities in Scotland need to wake up to the economic realities of providing care to older people.
He and his association are calling on the Executive to increase 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 Scotland 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.
A recent survey has revealed that Scottish 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.
Aberdeen: £388 a week
Aberdeenshire: £387 a week
Angus: Between £378 and £383 a week
Argyll and Bute: Not available
Clackmannanshire: Between £375 and £412 a week
Dumfries and Galloway: Between £367 and £377 a week
Dundee: £371 a week
East Ayrshire: £377 a week
East Dunbartonshire: £371 a week
East Lothian: £377 a week
East Renfrewshire: £371 a week
Edinburgh: £350 a week
Falkirk: Between £334 and £371 a week
Fife: Between £377 and £400 a week
Glasgow: £371 a week
Highland: Between £371 and £384 a week
Inverclyde: £371 a week
Midlothian: £377 a week
Moray: Between £346 and £366 a week
North Ayrshire: £377 a week
North Lanarkshire: Not available
Orkney: £377 a week
Perth and Kinross: Not available
Renfrewshire: £371 a week
Scottish Borders: Between £378 and £388 a week
Shetland: Between £355 and £423 a week
South Ayrshire: £377 a week
South Lanarkshire: £377 a week
Stirling: Not available
West Dunbartonshire: £376 a week
Western Isles: Between £390 and £415 a week
West Lothian: Not available
The RNHA stresses that most Scottish 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 Scotland, we could see this part of the UK 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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