Minister moves to ensure care home residents benefit from free nursing care

New measures to ensure care home residents benefit from free
nursing care have been announced by health minister Jacqui
Smith.

The measures have been introduced to ensure that care home
providers do not take advantage of NHS-funded nursing care by
raising fees.

They include an amendment to care home regulations so that homes
must provide a breakdown of their fees for residents to see which
parts of their fees relate to nursing care and which to residential
care, as well as a core contract that NHS bodies should use to let
care homes know how to handle the NHS nursing contributions they
receive.

Smith said: “It is wrong to have singled out residents who were
previously paying for their nursing care and who from 1 October
last year should have benefited from fee reductions.

“These new measures will ensure that residents and their
families receive comprehensive information about what their fees
are paying for,” she said.