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Issued 22nd August 2001

GOVERNMENT 'WASTING MONEY' ON CONVERTING OLD
NIGHTINGALE WARDS WHILE NURSING HOME BEDS ARE UNDER-USED

The Government is wasting millions of pounds on trying to do a cosmetic surgery job on poor quality NHS facilities for older people which would be better demolished, according to the Registered Nursing Home Association.

The association claims the money which Health Minister Jacqui Smith has just announced for wholesale conversions of old-fashioned Nightingale wards would be better spent on ensuring that older people who need continuous care are able to get places more quickly in nursing homes.

Said RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell said: "Tarting up out-of-date NHS facilities at enormous cost to the taxpayer does not seem like a very good deal, either for the public purse or for patients already having to wait too long for their needs to be assessed and to get the places they have been assessed for."

He added: "It would be far better to make effective use of the thousands of existing places that are already available in independent and voluntary sector nursing homes throughout the country."

Mr Ursell also queried whether the converted NHS facilities would succeed in complying with new national minimum standards for care homes which require, for example, single rooms of a minimum size, specific door widths, furnishings and other specified amenities.

"It would be rather ironic," said Mr Ursell, "if the Government ended up providing less in its own premises than the independent sector is automatically obliged to provide."

The RNHA has also expressed its disappointment at the Government's failure to turn the rhetoric of partnership working into a practical reality.

"It does not bode well when the Government chooses to ignore the fact that there are currently tens of thousands of empty beds in registered nursing homes," said Mr Ursell. "Surely partnership means consulting your partners about the best ways of utilising available resources. The beds in the nursing home sector are being under-utilised because of a lack of money in the NHS and social services to pay for them. But money is going to be spent on creating facilities within the NHS in buildings which would probably be better knocked down."

He concluded: "This appears to be one of those cosmetic surgery jobs that is both unnecessary and likely to be botched in the end. Unfortunately, the real losers will be patients."

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For further information and comment, please contact Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, RNHA (Tel: 0121-454 2511 or 07785 227000 mobile)