NEWS RELEASE FROM
THE REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 30th December 2002
‘GOVERNMENT STILL FAILING ON FREE NURSING CARE’:
NURSING HOMES CALL FOR NEW REALISM ON COSTS
So-called ‘free nursing care’ for nursing home patients looks as though it will remain something of a mirage during 2003, according to the Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA), which today expressed severe disappointment at the Government’s Christmas Eve statement about the new rates of State financial support to come into effect from April 2003.
The amount paid by the Government through the NHS to cover the cost of nursing care provided in registered nursing homes is to rise in three months’ time by between £5 and £10 per week. But, warns the RNHA, the increases will not cover the true costs of nursing because the Government takes a very narrow and rigid view about what does or does not constitute nursing.
Depending on their assessed level of need, nursing home patients responsible for meeting the cost of their own care currently receive £35, £70 or £110 per week from the State specifically to meet the nursing component of their care.
Commented RNHA Chief Executive Officer Frank Ursell: “When the scheme was introduced in October 2001, we said then that the figures were unrealistically low. The fact that they are going up to £40, £75 and £120 per week does not change this basic reality. It’s difficult to see how they come up with such low figures when you bear in mind that it costs as much as £1,200 a week to keep someone in a hospital ward, where nursing staff costs figure highly in the equation.”
He added: “Nursing homes and their patients are getting the worst of all worlds, it could be argued. Patients who have to meet all their own costs, except for the nursing element, are being short-changed because the Government is trying to keep its contribution down to an absolute minimum.
“At the same time, nursing homes themselves are being short-changed because the Government and local authorities have consistently refused to accept that, in the case of the majority of patients whose entire care costs are supposed to be met from public funds, the weekly amount paid falls far short of the actual cost. Currently, independent experts believe that, on average, the gap is around £80 to £100 a week.”
The RNHA is campaigning hard across the country to achieve what it calls a ‘fair price for care’. It wants to see the fees paid by local authorities for State-funded patients increased to an average of £459 per week, and it wants the Government to agree to an independent review of the actual cost of the nursing provided within that overall figure.
Nursing homes are worried that, with their costs looking as though they will continue to outstrip income, there will be yet more closures during 2003. This, they warn, will jeopardise the attempts of NHS hospitals and social services departments to reduce delayed discharges because, in many parts of the UK, it will prove increasingly difficult to find nursing home places
Said Mr Ursell: “The Government likes to preach about its commitment to joined up thinking and a ‘whole system’ approach to delivering health care. But time and time again nursing homes are left out of the loop. Our message to the Government is this: bring us into the loop or see your aspirations falter.
“Perhaps the root of the problem is that nursing homes are not seen by Ministers to be providers of health care. Perhaps they see us as not very different from providers of residential and social care. During 2003, we aim to change that perception.”
END
Notes to editors:
1. In 2002, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published a report - Calculating a Fair Price for Care - using research from the Laing & Buisson organisation which showed that the average cost of providing 24-hour nursing home care works out at £459 per week. Most local authority social services departments currently pay well below £400 per week for those patients entitled to have their fees paid from public funds.
2. Free nursing care was introduced in October 2001 for those patients (around 42,000 nationally) who otherwise have to pay the whole of their nursing home costs.
The scheme is due to be extended to all other patients from April 2003. This means that the NHS will meet the cost of nursing care provided in nursing homes whilst social services departments continue to be responsible for the remainder of the fees.
3. The RNHA’s position is that the overall fees paid by social services are too low and that the NHS contribution to the nursing care component of those fees is also too low.
For further information and comment please contact:
Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, RNHA
Tel: 07785 227000 (mobile), 0121-454 2511 (office) or 0121-445 1861 (home)
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