Elderly left waiting as NHS fails to pay homes for nursing care

Nursing homes up and down the country are still waiting for money promised by the Department of Health (DH) to materialise, to pay for five months of nursing care needed for elderly people.

The NHS contribution towards the cost of a registered nurse in a nursing home (known as the Funded Nursing Care (FNC) rate was announced in July as £156.25 per person per week, three months after it should have been introduced (1 April) but nursing homes have not yet seen the money.

‘Delayed, lost or reduced payments’

The delay of almost half a year has meant, Britain’s elderly who need nursing care will not have their fees discounted, until the nursing homes are paid the FNC.

The FNC is paid by the NHS to Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG). CCGs and local authorities (where they are handling FNC payments on behalf of the CCG) are responsible for ensuring the full rate is passed on to care homes.

But, evidence obtained by carehome.co.uk, seems to back up nursing homes' claims that local authorities have delayed handing over the funds, ‘lost’ the funds or reduced their payments by £44.25 per week in nursing care contracts to compensate for this year’s 40 per cent rise in the FNC.

Council ‘clawback’

A letter obtained by carehome.co.uk about FNC, (dated 12 September) from Buckinghamshire County Council told nursing homes:

‘Accordingly the council will be reducing all contracted nursing residential packages of care by £44.25/week which will be backdated to 1 April 2016.

'We are aware of the cashflow consequence of this for yourselves if the same amount is unable to be claimed back from the NHS/ CCG on a similar timescale and, accordingly, we shall delay the implementation of this until after our next scheduler payment run.

'The impact of this clawback will therefore take place at the end of Period 6 in a payment run that will hit your bank account on or around 13th September.

'You will receive payment for the higher FNC rate and associated back payments around the same timeframe as our clawback happens.’

In response to a plea for more funds from nursing homes, the Department of Health increased the FNC by 40 per cent from £112 to £156.25 per person per week in July and promised payments dating back to 1 April would also be paid.

'Who is wielding the stick?'

Frank Ursell, chief executive of the Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA) whose members own over 1,000 nursing homes, said: “Nursing homes have hounded councils with emails but in many cases have received no information about the FNC and no money since the Department of Health’s July promise.

“Who is wielding the stick to make sure this is happening? No one.

“Under the Care Act, local authorities have a duty of care for the elderly.

“It’s been 23 weeks since 1 April. Self-funders aren’t getting the money. “In the main, it is the promise of the FNC that is keeping homes going. But some homes are closing because of funding issues.”

The RNHA chief executive, who runs a 25-bed nursing home in Worcestershire, said: “Nursing homes are plugging the gap. In my nursing home alone, the absence of an FNC has made a £1,000 a week difference.

“We will refund back the money to our self-funders, as soon as we get it."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said the DH had received some complaints about the FNC payments.

"Registered nursing care is a vital part of supporting vulnerable people and must be funded effectively.

"Local Authorities have a clear responsibility to make sure funding increases reach the front line so that providers are rewarded for high quality care.”

In July, the DH said the FNC rate will be paid on an interim basis until 31 December 2016, while work is done to review an element of the rate for agency nursing staff, which ‘could lead to a reduction to the rate from 1 January 2017’.