Care homes in north Wales fear closure over underfunding

Dementia patients in north Wales are at risk as care homes face closure because of underfunding, it has been claimed.

At a meeting, about 30 care providers told Conwy council that low fees were putting homes out of business.

Conwy has now delayed a decision on rates for the coming year.

The council said it was "acutely aware" of social care underfunding, it tried to ensure fees are "fair and affordable", and was working on the problem with other local authorities.

Care Forum Wales said a north-south divide meant Torfaen homes received £107 a week more per person for dementia care this year than Conwy was planning to pay next year.

In a 40-bed care home that is a difference per year of almost £225,000.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Clive Nadin, owner of Abbey Dale House Care Home in Colwyn Bay, said he could not accept the council's rates.

"If I did, I would be going out of business this year," he said.

In recent weeks Trewythen Hall in Gresford, Wrexham county; Bay Court in Kinmel Bay, Conwy county; Gwastad Hall in Cefn y Bedd, in Flintshire; and Morfa Newydd in Greenfield, Flintshire, have closed or are in the process of doing so.

Mr Nadin claimed the sector was "teetering at the edge of the precipice".

The situation, he said, could add to the problem of patients blocking hospital beds because they have nowhere to go.

It was, he said, more serious than Covid.

He said: "Starving care homes of funding is a foolish false economy because there are hundreds of people stuck in hospitals whose medical treatment is completed and they can't be discharged because there's nowhere for them to go."

Care Forum Wales chairman Mario Kreft claimed councillors had a daily £28 meal allowance, while care homes were only allowed £4.79 a day to feed residents.

He said additional funding granted during the pandemic had "tapered off" and not been replaced.

There was also, he said, a staff shortage because care homes could not compete with money offered by supermarkets.

North Wales, he said, had become "the Cinderella in terms of fees in Wales".

"We have a gaping north-south divide, and something needs to be done about it," he said.

Conwy council's integrated adult and community services member, Penny Andow, said the authority worked to ensure fees were "fair and affordable".

"We are acutely aware that social care is underfunded and as such have been working with other local authorities across Wales to address this with the Welsh government," she said.

"A range of options has been presented over and above that of the North Wales Care Fees Group and will be determined by council on 2 March."