Rise in care fees ‘bad for Glasgow’

THE leader of Glasgow City Council has attacked plans to increase care home and nursing care fees as “not in Glasgow’s interests.”

Gordon Matheson was speaking as city councillors “reluctantly” approved the increases, which come following talks between the local government body Cosla, the Scottish Government and care providers.

Mr Matheson said: “It’s a challenging agreement that’s been reached.

Bluntly, I don’t think that the national agreement works in Glasgow’s interests.

“We argued strongly against it at Cosla but were out voted. We need to put a lot of effort into the reform process from here. I look forward to the outcome of those discussions because we can not go on like this.”

The increases will cost the council an extra £2.4 million a year, but it also notes that a “contribution” from the Scottish Government is expected to reduce that bill to about £2m.

The council had argued that there has been a 12% increase in care home fees over the past five years, which amounts to the social work department having to find £10m to cover the increases against an overall reduction in budget of £80m during the same period.

After the meeting, Mr Matheson added: “There are up to 500 empty care home beds in Glasgow – it should be a buyer’s market where we can drive prices down.

“But this deal provides yet another increase to privately-owned care homes at a time when every other part of the social care system is facing severe budget pressure.

“When added to the concerns we already have on how parts of the private care home system is performing, this amounts to a bad deal for Glasgow.

“The deal may work for other parts of the country, but it take no accounts of conditions in Glasgow.

“As a member of Cosla we will honour this agreement, but cannot blindly accept a further £2m impact on an already reducing budget.

“Individuals will continue to receive an appropriate service based on a detailed assessment of their need.

“But we will be funding fewer care home beds in the year ahead and this will have impact on delayed discharge from hospital care.

“There is an urgent need for overall reform to the adult residential care sector.”