Care home crisis 'killing the elderly'

New evidence of the crisis facing London's vulnerable and elderly residents is revealed today.

Three quarters of councils have a shortage of care-home places, according to a new survey. It means that, increasingly, pensioners have to be sent from the capital to homes elsewhere in the South-East.

Experts say the disruption caused by moving them such a long way often results in an earlier death. The shortage of places can also cause bed-blocking in the NHS, when elderly patients prefer to stay in hospital long after they are fit to leave because there is no room at the local care home.

The findings emerge in a study commissioned by Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate Simon Hughes, of the 32 London boroughs with care facilities.

The survey found:

Mr Hughes said: "The care-home sector in London is facing a crisis that is slowly reaching meltdown. With house prices soaring and care-home fees so low, care-home owners are simply selling up and shipping out.

"This leaves many of the most vulnerable in our society being moved around in a morbid game of pass the parcel. Older people are being placed in care homes that are further away from their families, leading to distress and anxiety."

According to the Lib-Dem research, based on responses from participating boroughs, councils pay between £355 and £450 a week per patient for a residential place, and from £461 to £525 for the higher standard of nursing care required by bed-ridden or very frail residents. But these amounts are still an average of £21 a week below those demanded by residential homes, and £33 below that of nursing homes.

Each council placed an average of 210 people outside its boundaries in the past financial year. Only four boroughs thought they had sufficient local places, across both public and private sectors.

Kensington and Chelsea council has just introduced new planning rules making it harder for properties to be converted for alternative uses.

The council has the lowest provision of homes in the country compared to the size of its elderly population. Its 377 residential or nursing places are 244 short of the estimated demand now, which is expected to nearly treble within 30 years. A new home offering 60 places has been

given the go-ahead but will not open until late 2006.

Nationally, the supply of residential and nursing homes is in long-term decline. As well as the booming property market, this is due to changes in the law that require many homes to be modernised by 2007 and the introduction of the minimum wage in a sector characterised by low-pay.