Daily Mail

Shortage of care home places to hit 70,000 by 2027

- Daily Mail Reporter

a Shortage of care home beds could leave 70,000 people unable to get the help they need within a decade, a report found yesterday.

Over the past 15 years new care home places have been made available at a rate of just 7,000 a year on average – half the number needed to cope with the expanding population of elderly people.

if the problem is not addressed over the next ten years, this would create a 70,000-bed shortfall.

The report said the shortage is worsened by care home closures. Over the past three years, 21,500 care home places have disappeare­d across Britain.

James Kingdom, lead researcher for the project, which was carried out for BBC radio 4’s You and Yours programme by property consultant­s JLL, said: ‘There are more people living longer. Over the course of the next decade there is going to be 2.5million more over-65s, and as a result that means there is going to be demand for care home beds. To fix that, we need to double the rate of delivery.’

independen­t analysts warned the impact of care home shortfalls will be worst in the north of england and in poorer parts of the country, where more care home residents have no savings or assets and rely on local councils to pay their fees.

Councils are currently paying an average of £486 a week for each resident who relies on state funding, a level around £100 a week below the minimum costs for home operators.

There are also fears that a lack of places will worsen ‘bed blocking’ in hospitals, as older people who need care rather than medical treatment occupy NHs beds.

However, social services chiefs and the Government said that the number of people who can be cared for in their own homes is rising. The department of Health said more than six in ten people who need care get help in their own home.

a spokesman said: ‘We have given local authoritie­s in england an extra £2billion boost over the next three years to maintain access for our growing ageing population and to put the social care sector on a sustainabl­e footing for the future.’

Glen Garrod, of the associatio­n of directors of adult social services, said that it is important to look at other types of care: ‘There is a danger of looking to residentia­l options when we haven’t fully exhausted all those that might help people stay at home – which is where most people would prefer to be.’

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