NEWS RELEASE FROM
THE REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 31st March 2005
A TALE OF TWO COUNCILS AS NEATH PORT TALBOT
FINANCIAL HELP FOR ELDERLY FALLS BEHIND SWANSEA
A bitter blow to the future care of older people in Neath Port Talbot is how the Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA) has described the Council’s decision to limit the increase in its contribution to nursing home care costs to just 3.1 per cent in the coming year.
The relatively small increase is contrasted by the RNHA with the 5 per cent awarded just a few miles away in Swansea.
Said RNHA chief executive officer, Frank Ursell: “We cannot understand how such a big discrepancy can occur between the level of financial help offered to older people in one South Wales Council and another. We would call upon the councillors of Neath Port Talbot to reconsider their decision.”
He added: “Whilst we think that over the next twelve months Swansea may need to provide further help to meet the rising costs of care, at least the Council has offered a reasonable figure for the moment. In fact, its increase is nearly double that which has been offered by Neath Port Talbot.”
The RNHA points to the 8 per cent increase in the national minimum wage that nursing homes throughout the UK had to absorb in October 2004, with a further ten per cent rise in two stages announced by the government for the coming year.
Nursing homes generally received no increases at the time to help them meet the rise, says the RNHA. Any current rises in the fees they receive from local authorities are therefore simply helping them to cope with shortfalls in payments they have already experienced.
“Caring for older people round the clock is essentially a people business,” said Mr Ursell. “A high proportion of the cost is represented by the wage bill. To maintain and increase the quality of care provided to vulnerable older people, many of whom have multiple and complex nursing needs, we need local authorities and the NHS to match increases in their contributions to our costs to the increases we have to meet in wage costs. If they don’t, the whole system will be put under an enormous financial strain.”
The RNHA has already expressed disappointment that the increase in the NHS contribution towards nursing costs from 1st April 2005 is being limited to around
3 per cent, significantly lower than the cost increases being experienced by the nursing homes which provide the care.
END
Notes to editors:
1. 1. In October 2004, the national minimum wage rose from £4.50 an hour to £4.85 an hour, an increase of just under 8 per cent.
2. In October 2005, the national minimum wage will go up again from £4.85 an hour to £5.05 an hour, and then again in 2006 to £5.35. Together, the two planned increases will lift the rate by a further 10 per cent.
3. From April 2005, after increases in Neath Port Talbot Council and NHS contributions to weekly elderly care costs are taken into account, the average weekly fee paid to nursing homes for looking after older patients will rise by around 3 per cent.
4. The Registered Nursing Home Association represents around 1,300 nursing homes across the United Kingdom.
For further information and comment, please contact:
Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, Registered Nursing Home Association
Tel: 07785 227000 (mobile) or 0121-454 2511 (office)
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