The RNHA believes the government's Green Paper on the future funding of social care in England does not address the fundamental issue of whether or not any of the new systems proposed will generate enough money to pay for the amount and quality of care that people need. Commented RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell: "The vast majority of people would certainly agree with the government's conclusion that the current system is a lottery in terms of who receives what degree of financial help and support from whom. "But the inherent injustice of these arrangements is only one side of the story. If the current consultation with the public focuses only on where the money to pay care comes from, rather than on whether the funding system as a whole generates enough money from all sources to meet the true costs of care, then the exercise will have been fatally flawed."

The RNHA has welcomed a call by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia for greater investment in training for those who care for people affected by the condition. But the association warns that raising standards of dementia care depends not only on training but also on extra resources to fund more staff and better pay.

The RNHA has welcomed a pledge by the new Care Quality Commission (CQC) to enter into 'a continual constructive dialogue' with providers of long-term care services, including nursing homes. The RNHA hopes it marks the start of a new era in which those who regulate care services and those who provide them will work together for the benefit of those who use the services.

Wirral Council has been accused of using 'bully boy' tactics that could damage the care and well-being of older people in its area. The RNHA has condemned an ultimatum from Wirral Council that will force local independent and voluntary sector care homes to accept an immediate 1.3% cut in the level of fees the local authority was paying last year to cover the cost of 24-hour care provided by those homes to older people. The damage is compounded, the RNHA claims, by the fact that Wirral Council is not only backdating the cut to the beginning of April but is also unilaterally tearing up a contract it had with local care homes to increase their funding for 2009/10 in line with the retail price index.

The RNHA has welcomed an acknowledgement by the Department of Health that low levels of pay in the social care sector are a cause for concern and is calling for action to address the problem in both now and for the long term.

Reacting to a recent comment attributed to Health Secretary Alan Johnson that, in general, 'the social care system in England is inconsistent, incoherent and no longer sustainable', the RNHA says it begs the question as to whether the government has been pursuing the right policies.

Two key messages to have emerged from the RNHA's 2009 national roadshow are that nursing homes want a more consistent star rating system and a fairer system of funding that meets the actual costs incurred in looking after highly dependent people 24 hours a day.

Star ratings systems for assessing care services are by necessity a rather blunt instrument and should not be relied upon as the sole arbiter of quality, the RNHA believes. Commenting on a Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) report on a survey to find out what people think about the star ratings system introduced last year, the RNHA said it painted a less than convincing picture about the robustness of that system.

Reacting to a report by Laing and Buisson, the RNHA said that years of under-investment in dementia care by the government, NHS and local authorities had resulted in services being stretched to the limit.

Following statements by Norman Lamb MP about just 169 out of 10,377 care homes for older people in England that were found by inspectors to have major hygiene and infection control failings, the RNHA said it was highly regrettable that he had completely overlooked the sterling work done by the vast majority of homes to raise standards and deliver high quality care.

Responding to the government's national dementia strategy, the RNHA has welcomed proposals to strengthen specialist NHS mental health support to independent nursing homes, including assessment of patients' needs on admission and six-monthly reviews.

The RNHA has welcomed a commitment from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to be both consistent and fair in assessing how well individual nursing homes and other care providers are complying with statutory regulations and standards.

Welcome to RNHA Care-Academy which has been created to help you deliver training and development programmes such as Induction and Mandatory Refresher course.

The Department of Health has launched a consultation on future measures to safeguard vulnerable adults. RNHA members may wish to access the consultation materials, consider their implications and respond directly with their own views on the way ahead.

Nursing homes should be congratulated on the significant improvements they have made over the past five years in meeting national minimum care standards, RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell believes.

The RNHA is warning that older people needing full-time care may be the next victims of the credit crunch if council social services departments freeze, cut or offer below inflation increases in the funding of nursing home places.