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Elderly People (Charitable Support)
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assistance he has provided to charitable providers of housing, care and support for the elderly in the last year. [9031]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 22 October 2001]: For 2000–01 and 2001–02, grants totalling £3,733,000 were paid under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 to 54 organisations for projects
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concerned with housing, care, or support for older people. In some cases, the projects concern disabled people in general and are not limited to older people.
Summer Recess
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) press notices and (b) consultation documents were issued by his Department during the summer recess. [9231]
Ms Blears: During the summer recess period, 20 July to 14 October 2001, 129 press releases and 25 consultation documents were issued by the Department.
Consultants' Secretaries
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the provision of secretarial cover to hospital consultants during periods of absence by permanent secretarial staff. [9698]
Mr. Hutton: It is the responsibility of each individual national health service trust to make all necessary arrangements for secretarial and administrative support. This includes the provision of secretarial cover to hospital consultants.
Care Standards (Young Adults)
Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many representations have been made concerning the national care standards for younger adults. [9497]
Jacqui Smith: During the consultation period for the draft standards for Younger Adults and Adult placements the Department received 500 responses, which made 4,776 comments on specific issues within the standards.
Residential Homes
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make financial provision for owners of residential care homes to assist them in complying with the requirements of the Residential Care Act 2000. [8216]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 18 October 2001]: The Department has no evidence to suggest that large numbers of care homes will be unable to meet the national standards. Many providers already meet or exceed the proposed standards and will have no reason to be concerned about them. None of the standards will be introduced until at least April 2002 and some of the more challenging standards will not be implemented until some time after that. Providers will be given realistic timescales in which to meet any new standards.
The detail of contracting arrangements between local authorities and independent sector providers of care is a matter for local decision. The Department does not set or recommend rates at which local authorities contract with nursing and residential homes. We think it is important that local authorities are able to tailor contracts as
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necessary to specific local circumstances. In doing this we expect local authorities to take into account a range of provider costs such as implementing national standards.
We are providing significant additional resources for social services. We have increased social services funding by 17.8 per cent. in real terms since 1996–97 and will be providing an extra 3.7 per cent. in real terms next year. This means that local authorities have the resources they need to purchase services at realistic prices.
However, I do accept that some residential and nursing home owners are experiencing financial difficulties. That is why we established a strategic group to give greater direction to the commissioning of care for adults, in particular older people. The group has looked at the state of local commissioning arrangements and the impact they are having on both service users and providers. The members of the group include representatives of central and local government, the national health service, independent (private and voluntary) providers of health and social care, as well as housing. The group published an agreement, "Building Capacity and Partnership in Care", on 9 October, which we shall expect local social services and health authorities to adopt. It will lead to improvements in the planning and commissioning of services in ways that bring confidence and stability to the whole system. We also announced a Government commitment of £300 million over two years to tackle delayed discharge.
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many individuals have sold their homes since 1 May 1997 to fund their (a) residential home care and (b) residential nursing home care. [8923]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not available centrally.
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many residential nursing homes have closed since 1 May 1997; and how many beds have been lost; [8920]
- (2) how many residential home beds (a) in the private sector and (b) owned by local authorities have been closed since 1 May 1997. [8921]
Jacqui Smith: Table 1 shows the number of residential care homes, the number of nursing homes and the number of beds within these homes in England on 31 March in each of the last four years. Table 2 shows the changes in the number of homes and places based on the information in table 1. These figures take account of new homes, those that closed and those that made changes to their registration status or extended their existing facilities. It is not possible to determine the precise number of homes that have closed, or the number of beds lost as a result of such closures, from this information.
Information collected by health and social care consultants Laing and Buisson on the number of care homes, beds and closures in the independent sector in recent years is available in the company's publication, Market Survey 2001, published in July.
(10) This refers to data collected during the period 1 October 1997 to 31 March 1998 for nursing homes and registered beds. In subsequent years, data collection arrangements were changed and relate to figures pertaining to 31 March each year.
(11) Includes dual registered homes which are also included in the total number of nursing homes. The residential care homes and nursing homes should not be added together.
(12) Consists of voluntary, private, small homes and dual registered homes.
(13) General and mental nursing homes, hospitals and clinics
Source:
Department of Health annual returns
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| 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential care homes(14) | +400 | -100 | Less than 50 |
| Residential care places in residential care homes. | +9,800 | -2,800 | +500 |
| Of which: | |||
| Places in independent sector homes(15) | +11,600 | +2,100 | +4,000 |
| Places in LA staffed homes | -1,800 | -4,900 | -3,500 |
| Nursing homes(16) | +300 | -100 | -200 |
| Registered nursing beds in nursing homes | +9,300 | -3,400 | -8,800 |
(14) Includes dual registered homes which are also included in the total number of nursing homes. The residential care homes and nursing homes should not be added together.
(15) Consists of Voluntary, private, small homes and dual registered homes.
(16) General and mental nursing homes, hospitals and clinics
Source:
Department of Health annual returns
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many individuals in each year since 1 May 1997 to the latest available date were living in (a) residential care homes and (b) residential nursing care homes; and in each category how many were (i) self-funding the fees, (ii) partially funding the fees and (iii) being funded wholly by the state. [8924]
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Jacqui Smith: The information available centrally is in the table. The number of people who are resident in residential care homes and paying for their own care is not collected centrally. A survey conducted in June 2001 estimated that around 42,700 residents in general and mental nursing homes were paying wholly for their own care.
| 1997(18) | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of places in residential care homes(19) | 338,100 | 347,900 | 345,100 | 345,600 |
| Number of LA supported residents in residential care homes(20) | 170,300 | 176,500 | 181,200 | 186,800 |
| Number of registered beds in nursing homes(21) | 196,300 | 205,600 | 202,200 | 193,300 |
| Number of LA supported residents in nursing homes | 66,100 | 72,900 | 73,500 | 74,400 |
(17) Rounded numbers
(18) Refers to the period 1 October 1996 to 31 March 1997 for number of registered beds in nursing homes
(19) Residential places in local authority staffed, voluntary, private, small and dual registered homes
(20) Local authority supported residents in local authority staffed and independent residential care homes. A local authority supported resident is a resident whose fees are paid in part or in full by the local authority.
(21) General and mental nursing homes including private hospitals and clinics
Source:
Department of Health returns
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average length of stay of a resident in an (a) residential care home and (b) residential nursing care home is in the last 12 months. [8925]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not collected centrally.
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