Call To Increase Nursing Care Funding

RCN Scotland has called on the Scottish Executive to increase the payments made to care homes to cover nursing care.  On the day (Tuesday) of the RCN Scotland Independent Sector Conference in Edinburgh, the nursing union has highlighted that nursing care payments in Scotland are the lowest in the UK and have not increased since 2002.

RCN Scotland believe that the current sum of £65 per week per resident is insufficient to meet the cost of providing high quality nursing care.  They fear that unless there is an increase in funding the level of nursing care within some care homes may be cut back.

Jane McCready, RCN Scottish Board Chair, said: “The Scottish Executive has led the way in the UK with the introduction of free personal care.  Their decision to implement this policy has made a real difference to the lives of thousands of elderly people across the Scotland.  However, as well as free personal care we must that ensure that the provision of nursing care is fully funded.

“Scotland is currently lagging behind the rest of the UK on nursing care provision.  If this situation is not changed then we are concerned that patient care will be affected in the future. We cannot expect care homes to provide the same level of nursing care in the future if we do not increase the funding given to them to cover the costs of providing that care. 

“In the long-run it is possible that we will see some care homes moving away from 24 hour a day nursing cover to only having nurses available on-call overnight.  Others may choose to employ less qualified staff. We cannot allow this to happen.  The level of nursing care should be based on the needs of the residents and the professional judgement of nurses and not on the need of care homes to balance their books.”