Issued 27th March 2002

NURSING HOMES SAY MILBURN'S 'BANGED UP' QUIP REVEALS
GOVERNMENT'S TRUE COLOURS ON CARE SECTOR

Nursing home sector leaders have responded angrily to Health Secretary Alan Milburn's apparent gaffe in the House of Commons yesterday (Tuesday, 26th March), when he referred to older people being 'banged up' in nursing and residential care homes.

In a statement today, the Registered Nursing Home Association said it was appalled that a senior Government figure could use such language. It was, said the association, tantamount to a slur on hundreds of thousands of staff who care for frail older people with physical or mental health problems.

The RNHA fears that it was not a slip of the tongue from an over-confident Minister at the dispatch box, but a sign of the Government's real attitude towards nursing and residential care homes.

Said RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell: "Mr Milburn's words were something of a body blow. To suggest that the elderly people we care for 24 hours a day are 'banged up' is a very emotive and wholly uncalled for turn of phrase."

He added: "Nursing homes look after very frail individuals whose health has deteriorated to the point where they need 24-hour care. In many instances, we are now doing the job which NHS geriatric hospitals used to do. We are not talking about people who could or should be living at home."

The association believes Mr Milburn's comments highlight the Government's 'couldn't care less' attitude towards the loss of 750 nursing homes across the country over the past year.

"We have been telling the Government for the past two years that there is a major financial crisis in the care sector," said Mr Ursell. "They haven't listened and they haven't done anything about it. Now we know why."

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For further information and comment please contact:

Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, Registered Nursing Home Association
Tel: mobile 07785 227000 at any time or 0121-454 2511 (office)