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Care Chief warns
Merseyside MPs of looming care crisis
PROFESSOR Martin Green OBE, the
Chief Executive of Care England has written to MPs in Merseyside to warn
that within 5 years, nearly 33% of elderly people in Merseyside could
struggle to find a residential care home bed, as care homes are forced to
close their doors. The warning comes after the sector has struggled with
chronic public sector underfunding over the last 5 years and is now facing
huge additional costs with the introduction of the National Living Wage.
In light of deeply worrying findings in a report published by independent
think tank ResPublica released on 11 November, Professor Green wrote to
Merseyside MPs urging them to contact the Chancellor ahead of the
Comprehensive Spending Review on 25 November 2015, and impress on him the
seriousness of the crisis facing the care sector unless urgent extra
sufficient government funding was provided.
ResPublica's report, entitled:- 'The Care Collapse - The Imminent Crisis'
in
Residential Care and its Impact on the NHS, evidenced that, following the
introduction of the National Living Wage, in April 2016, 37,000 local
authority funded care home beds will be lost in England as care homes are
forced to close their doors. This equates to a 28% shortfall in the number
of care home beds needed to meet demand by 2020. ResPublica also predicts a
£1.1bn funding gap, a third of which will be due to the increased cost of
paying staff the National Living Wage.
Professor Green's letter emphasised that the care sector welcomed the
implementation of the National Living Wage for carers in recognition of
their very difficult and demanding role. However, the industry leader warned
of the effect of this on care home finances and the sustainability of the
care sector. Unlike many businesses, staff wages account for 70% of care
homes' costs, and 55% of all people in residential care are state funded by
local authorities or Clinical Commissioning Groups who must be able to meet
the increase in costs caused by the National Living Wage.
The problem does not stop there. It will fall to the NHS to care for those
older people who cannot be placed in care homes, and this is set to cost the
NHS £3 billion.
Professor Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England, said:- "It is
no exaggeration to say the care sector is on the brink of a catastrophic
collapse, and in desperation we are turning to MPs in Merseyside for
support.
We urge them to write to the Chancellor and impress on him the seriousness
of the situation which will have a significant impact on thousands of
elderly vulnerable people in Merseyside.
MPs and the government must act swiftly or be faced with a care sector
crisis bigger than the collapse of Southern Cross, and more severe than that
facing the steel industry. As ResPublica reported, some 37,000 residents may
be made homeless if the sector collapses; these are real, vulnerable elderly
people and their families who will be affected, with the government facing a
human tragedy of its own making. It must act urgently and effectively to
save the care sector." What
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