INJUSTICE IN CARE

I recently discovered something I consider a matter of real concern especially at a time when the Government are considering help for people who have to go into Care Homes. It seems that one Local Authority sets a fee to pay for residential care for those who have no means to pay for themselves but the fee that has been set is considerably less than the amount the Care Home needs. The Care Home takes both fee paying guests and LA referrals; yet the amount the LA will pay for their referrals is substantially less than the actual cost. The result is that the other residents who have private means, usually from the sale of their home, have to pay more to subsidise those referred by the LA. Recently when the fees at one particular Care Home increased by more than the rate relatives considered to be reasonable or fair and queried the new amount being charged the owners reportedly said that they had no option but to charge private fee paying guests more to cover the shortfall on LA residents. In my opinion this is grossly unfair.