This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Care homes places increase
22/09/2005
The number of care home places for older people in Scotland has risen for the fourth consecutive census, according to figures released today.
The March 2005 Scottish Care Homes Census shows figures for adult care homes for older people, for people who are physically disabled, for those who have mental health problems, adults with learning disabilities and other client groups.
Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care Lewis Macdonald said:
"The statistics released today show that the number of care home places for older people has continued to rise, and that more and more of these places provide the high-quality and modern care that people expect.
"More than two-thirds of the places available for older people are in rooms with en-suite facilities and 86 per cent of available places are in single rooms.
"In general, Scotland is well-supplied with care home places. However, in some areas, particularly in our cities, the number of registered places available has dropped over the period. We cannot afford to be complacent in ensuring that there are sufficient places available to meet demand.
"It is important that we take all this work forward in partnership to ensure access to care and quality of care received are as high as possible across the country."
The key findings as at March 31, 2005 were:
- There were a total of 1,523 registered care homes across Scotland
- There were 38,327 care home places for older people, which has increased for the fourth consecutive census - the comparable figures for September 2003, March 2004, September 2004 were 37,946, 38,166 and 38,292
- 67 per cent of available places in care homes for older people were in rooms with en-suite facilities and 86 per cent of available places were in single rooms
Since July 2001, care home owners have received over £140 million in additional funding to cover increased fees for the care of older people.
The Executive, COSLA and Scottish Care asked the Scottish Local Authorities Management Centre (SLAMC) to produce an independent costing of care. The SLAMC report recommended fee increases of £20m, £37m and £54m during the period of the spending review. The Executive is providing an additional £37m in 2006-07 and £57.5m in 2007-08 to meet the costs of these recommendations. In total, therefore, the Executive will be providing an additional £94.5 million between 2006-08, exceeding the recommendations in the report. Overall, this will take additional expenditure to the sector to over £240 million since 2001.
This represents the fifth set of results from the Scottish Care Homes Census. This survey began in March 2003 and replaced the Residential Care Homes Census and the Private Nursing Homes Census.