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The crisis over nursing home fees is forcing a council in south east England to consider sending older people to homes in France, Belgium and Spain, writes Sally Gillen.

Peter Gilroy, who is Kent council’s director of social services, is currently seeking places in France because its cheaper than the UK. 'I'm doing it simply because I cannot overspend budgets. Gone are the days when you can look for places in, say, Devon. It's just not affordable anymore.'

In the last nine months the council has lost over 600 nursing home beds because home owners have switched to residential care or sold off the property.

Gilroy said: "There are many homes that will not take council referrals at all. Staff are having to make about 50 calls just to find one place. On a daily basis we are being told by homes to remove our patients."

He added that his staff were looking to resolve issues over language and accessibility for relatives. "France and Belguim are nearer to Kent than Devon so we view them rather like adjoining counties.

"But nobody will be forced to go abroad and initial feedback from carers has been very positive," she said.

Gilroy criticised one-off winter payments to authorities saying that a strategic approach was needed. He said an extra £7 million was needed to meet the cost of private nursing homes in Kent in addition to £26 million already allocated.

The council has written to health secretary Alan Milburn urging the government to inject more money into the nursing home sector.

Nadra Ahmed, chairperson of the National Care Coaltion, commented: "Staff retention is the main reason for so many home closures. We just cannot draw enough people into the industry because they can get paid more working at Asda.

"We as home owners can no longer subsidise the care sector. Local authorities have been creative about how they use their funds and have wilfully neglected the independent sector," she said.

In one day of this week alone she had received four notifications of home closures, she said.

Other councils are experiencing similar problems. Two months ago nursing home owners in Devon threatened to terminate their contract with Devon council over fees. Last week they withdrew the threat, after agreeing a new funding package. But David Johnstone, social services director, said: "We still have the threat hanging over us. It has only been withdrawn temporarily on the understanding that we work together to raise public awareness of the issue."