Financial boost for care home nursing

The rates paid to care homes for NHS nursing care will rise by 11.5% (cash terms) in 2022/23, backdated to 1 April. The weekly rate for NHS-funded nursing care has risen from £187.60 to £209.19. The funding is paid to care homes, who employ registered nurses to provide services for residents with nursing care needs. These include patients with learning disabilities, those with long-term physical or mental health requirements, and conditions associated with old age.

The rate rise follows a cost collection exercise by the Department, using data gathered from a survey of care homes.

There will also be retrospective payments to care homes in recognition of the additional work care home nurses provided during the Covid pandemic. This is estimated to be worth an extra £87m or £21.93 per patient for 2021/22.

The higher rate payment for those receiving NHS-funded nursing care before 2007 will be increased by £30.17 per week to £287.78 per resident.

Care minister Gillian Keegan (pictured) said: ‘Our brilliant adult social care nurses work tirelessly to support people living with a variety of health needs. Increasing the weekly rate and the retrospective uplift reflects the cost of this vital work, which is carried by our valued and skilled workforce to help those who need it.

‘It is right we continue to review the cost of this care to ensure nurses can continue providing excellent care and support the needs of their residents.’

NHS Providers director of policy and strategy Miriam Deakin welcomed the acknowledgement of the impact of the pandemic on social care nurses and the additional effort they made in the last year.

‘The increase in this year’s rates is good to see, accepting that it will be lower in real terms than 11.5% after inflation is taken into account,’ she added.

‘All care workers deserve to be recognised and rewarded for their contribution alongside social care nurses. We are particularly keen that similar attention be paid to supporting care in people’s homes, where there is a pressing need to increase capacity and to ensure that care providers can afford to offer wages that reflect the true value of these critical roles.’

She also called on the government to examine staffing needs closely, and develop a health and social care staff plan. ‘The number of registered nurses working in adult social care has been steadily declining over the past decade. We urgently need a longer-term solution to current workforce shortages across the health and care system,’ she said.