Care home ‘crisis’ as funding cuts loom

Exclusive: care homes in many parts of the United Kingdom are facing a grim combination of funding cuts and declining standards, according to figures obtained by Channel 4 News.

Channel 4 News has learned that funding of medical and nursing services for care home residents is set to fall by up to 11 per cent this financial year.

As care homes also face local authority cuts of between 20 and 30 per cent in accommodation funding and operators like Southern Cross suffer from the recession, the cuts could see some operators struggling to provide safe, high quality care or even to remain open, forcing some residents into expensive emergency hospital care.

Grave concerns have already been raised over the quality of some care homes.

Last week the Care Quality Commission closed 34 sub-standard homes as it brought in new regulations, and tomorrow an independent report is due which is expected to criticise Parkside House Nursing Home, in Northampton, over the deaths of five elderly residents.

The figures on funding were obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request from the GPs’ magazine, Pulse, and shared with Channel 4 News.