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Bupa Care Homes welcomes JRF’s report on cost of caring for older people 15 September 2005 Bupa Care Homes has backed the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s (JRF) call for urgent action on the funding of long-term care for elderly people. The JRF’s report concludes that the current system is unfair and incoherent, and that there needs to be better system for sharing the costs between the state and private individuals. Bupa is the largest single provider of care homes in the UK and is committed to providing the best possible care to over 21,000 people in its 299 nursing and residential homes. Around 70 percent of our residents receive some funding from the state, yet in previous reports the JRF has estimated that the care home sector is under-funded by over £1 billion a year. Local authorities currently pay care home operators up to £85 less per resident per week than it costs to care for them. Mark Ellerby, managing director, Bupa Care Homes said: “It’s about time the government started waking up to the future costs of long term care. Whilst other countries are facing up to the demands of an ageing population, the UK is failing to address the fact that there needs to be a huge increase in the number of beds available to care for older people with increasingly complex needs. “The current system is unsustainable and the government must do all it can to ensure local authorities pay a fair and realistic rate for care and invest in the care home sector to the same degree it is investing in the NHS. Unless the government commits adequate funding to the long-term care of older people, elderly people and their families will suffer.” The JRF report also highlights the particular care needs of people with dementia. Mark Ellerby commented: “A census of our care homes last year revealed that over 78 percent of our residents had at least one form of mental impairment and more than half had dementia, stroke or another neuro-degenerative disease. “Older people with dementia are highly dependent on specialist care, but many do not receive the funding they need to pay for it. The government needs to recognise the increasingly complex care needs of older people, and take action to improve the funding system to ensure that they are able to receive the highest quality care and treatment.” |
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