Thousands of care home places lost every year
Over 74,000 care home places have been lost since 1996 according to new figures published today.
Healthcare analysts Laing & Buisson found that despite more money being put into homes by the Government 10,000 beds were lost in the last year alone. Overall the number of beds available has dropped by 13% since Labour came to power.
Over the 15-month period to April 2003 a record 745 closures and 15,100 places lost in the independent sector were reported. In the same period only 96 new homes were registered, offering 3,451 places. Yet demand for places has remained constant at 91.8 per cent.
One of the authors of the report William Laing said that the continuing decline in the number of beds is very worrying.
‘Without new investment in care home capacity, consumer choice is threatened, the Government will find it more difficult to achieve its delayed discharge targets and local authorities will have to work harder to avoid the ‘fines’ which will begin to be levied from January 2004,’ he explained.
Companies that run private care homes are blaming local councils for not investing enough into the sector, while the councils say the Government is not giving them enough funds.
