Care home "cash crisis" warning

27.08.02

MP welcomes campaign success in forcing U-turn on care home regulations, but warns Government policy is still "half-baked"

Edward Davey, Lib Dem MP for Kingston and Surbiton, has welcomed the Government's recent backdown on new regulations threatening Kingston's care homes but remains concerned that a "cash crisis" will still see homes closing across the Borough.

Earlier this year, Edward Davey worked with Lib Dem Councillor, Rolson Davies, to survey the Borough's nursing and residential homes and their results showed over half of Kingston's care beds could be lost unless Government policy changed. The 3 main reasons for potential closure revealed in the survey were increased costs due to implementation of new national regulations, inadequate fee levels and higher rates of return from redevelopment of the premises.

Edward Davey and Rolson Davies linked in their results with the Liberal Democrats' national campaign against the Government's care home policy and, earlier this summer, the campaign pressure helped produce a Government "U-turn" on the care home regulations, with the Health Secretary publicly confirming that care homes opened before 1st April 2002 would not now have to change the fabric of their buildings to meet the higher standards.

Commenting, MP Edward Davey said:

"This last minute policy reversal should help a number of local homes stay open. That is good news - though it has taken a huge national campaign to force Ministers to see sense.

"Moreover, Ministers have only addressed half of Kingston's care home crisis. Unless the Council is given extra cash to ensure adequate fee levels, care homes will still close. Promises of extra cash have yet to materialise, and instead we now have the "Prescott threat" to cut Kingston's grant by 10%.

"Liberal Democrats will continue our campaign for free care for the elderly, as one of the best means of giving the sector a stable financial underpinning.

"Unless Ministers act on the cash crisis the free fall in the care homes market will continue. So far their actions have been "half-baked". The U-turn so far has been too little, too late."