Confusion continues over the implementation of the government's policy of providing free nursing care for people receiving continuing care in nursing homes in England. Help the Aged has called for the "complex" plan, which should have become operational on October 1. to be "sent back to the drawing board".
ome 42,000 people living in nurs re homes need to be assessed ti Jetermine which of three official "bands" of nursing care they should be entitled to - whether this be to the value of E35, E70 or £110 per WICK Up to 35,000 of these people are currently having to pay the full cost of their nursing home care, as a result of the Tory government's so-called "community care" reforms.
Ministers have expected that one in ten will receive the lowest allocation, with the bulk of their care being regarded as "social" care and still subject to means-tested charges.
Even those awarded the maximum €110 per week could w still wind up facing charges in excess of €200 per 'social" care, which can indude help with such essentials as washing, eating and using the toiler.
Charities representing older people have pressed for the introduction of a fourth band, in which all cane costs 53k. Labour still won't pay the full cost of care for elderly will be met for those whose nursing needs are greater than £110 per Week There are also fears that decisions on which band is appropriate will be inconsistene between one area and another - a new form of "postcode - and that decisions wil be intluenced by the thanks! light of the health authority ge Concern has warned that many older people will be "bitterly disappointed" at the level of funding they wil ger. Anger will be even greater in England, because in Scotland nursing home gesidents with similar needs should get all their nursing and personal care paid for by the government. The goverment has given health authorities just É100m to fund the changes between now and next April, despite the act that the cost is estimated at E1.4 billion in a full year. Each HA has a limit on how much it has to spend. The criterion for nursing care is also very restrictive, covering only ser vices dellvered by a registered nurse: but in many nursing homes the bulk of all care is delivered by nursing assistants, with only a very small propotion of resistered nurses in post, as proprietors seek to maximise their profits by holding down salary costs. But the task of deciding on behalf of the health authority and social ser vices what level of care shoukl be "free", and paid for by the NHS, has to be carmind out by a specialy trained registered nurse. Meanwhile doubts are being raised over the apparently free care to be provided in Scottish nursing homes A recent article in The Scotsman newspaper highlights the fact that anyone receiving the "free" care will Allowance (currently paid to 135,000 Scots pensioners). Attendance Allowance payments will continue for those receiving nursing home care in To make matters worse, the actual cost of personal care is significantly higher than the (90 a week which the Scottish Executive will pay -ing "subsidised" rather than "free" social care.
Campaigners, and health unions fighting for all health and nursing care to be provided free of charge and funded from taxation may have won the backing of the government's Royal Commission, but there is stil a long way to go before they win the policy in practice - north or south of the border.
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