Unfair care home fees could lead to closures - claim

All local authorities in Wales should pay the same for care home places, the organisation that represents the sector has said.

The amount is set by councils and Care Forum Wales said there was a huge difference between counties, creating a "postcode lottery".

Homes in two neighbouring counties are currently seeing a £70 difference in weekly charges for basic care with owners saying it could lead to more closures.

The Welsh government said its new National Office for Care and Support was considering how "to bring about consistency" but fees would differ due to "factors like land values for care homes".

The Welsh Conservatives said it was “a false economy pitching social care against health services”, while Plaid Cymru said a “transformational change” was needed to the health service.

Orme View care home in Llandudno, Conwy county, has seen its fees go up this year, along with every other home in the county.

That is because the county council has broken away from a system whereby all the councils in north Wales agreed to set their fees together.

It is now setting fees based on what an independent assessor said should be paid, which were a lot higher than they had been.

The new system was adopted in April, and Steffan Robbins from Orme View said the increase has made a difference.

"It's an amazing, positive step forward," he told the Politics Wales programme.

"Conwy have taken that step to really assess the true cost of care and make sure they deliver a fee that's affordable to them, but also a fee that reflects the true costs that we're seeing in the sector."

The Old Vicarage in Llangollen, Denbighshire, is getting thousands of pounds a year per resident less than Orme View in Llandudno because it depends on the fees set by its own council.

Although it has had an increase this year, it is a lot less than care homes in Conwy county.

The fees for the most basic care in Conwy county are £846 a week, but in Denbighshire they are only £774.

Bethan Mascarenhas, who run the Old Vicarage, said the difference means she has to charge residents top-up fees to make ends meet.

"It's very disappointing," she said.

"As somebody who's very invested in the work that they do, we really strive to give the absolute best level of care and that could look like great food, good drink, good activities, things that are meaningful to us.

"Unfortunately, the divide between the fees will make that difference in what you can provide."

Care Home Wales, the umbrella organisation for Welsh care homes, said the system was undermining homes in areas where the fees are not as high as they should be, and the inequality should come to an end.

Chairman Mario Kreft said the new National Office for Care and Support "needs to ensure we have parity across Wales, that there is at least an understood basic level of funding across all local authorities and the health boards".

"We've got to move away from a postcode lottery," he said.

In response, Denbighshire council said: "We have worked hard to strike the delicate balance between navigating challenging financial constraints and ensuring that we are maintaining a sustainable future for the care sector in the county."

It went on to say it has had "no evidence presented to suggest that different local authority fee rates is affecting the solvency of care homes in the county".

Speaking to BBC Politics Wales, Welsh Conservative MS Sam Rowlands called on the Welsh government to ensure “local authorities have the right amount of money available so they can pay care homes properly”.

“It's kind of a false economy pitching social care against health services, because we know that there are hundreds and hundreds of beds in our hospitals at the moment which are blocked because people cannot access the care services that they need,” he said.

Plaid Cymru MS Mabon ap Gwynfor said: “We need to see a transformational change within the care service."

“We need to see the Welsh government actually put this first and foremost as a priority... and to deliver that national care service so that care is free for individuals, that people working in the sector are paid properly, so that we know that our loved ones get that care."

The National Office for Care and Support was exploring the "feasibility of putting in place national fee methodologies to bring about consistency".

"This does not mean however that there will be one national fee rate across Wales," it said.

"Fee rates will differ due to local factors like land values for care homes."

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