North Wales MS and Shadow Finance Minister Mark Isherwood has today challenged the Minister for Health and Social Services over funding for Care Homes in North Wales, following a statement by Care Forum Wales last week that Flintshire County Council’s decision “to base care home fees on paying half the staff the minimum wage is an affront to care workers who had put their own lives on the line and heroically done their utmost to protect their residents from the deadly Coronavirus pandemic.”
Last year North Wales Local Authorities were presented with ‘Cheapskate Awards’ for paying amongst the lowest care home fees in Wales amid the coronavirus crisis, with Flintshire ranking 17th out of 21 ranked Councils with an average fee of £618.97 a week compared to the highest paying Cardiff at £762.11.
In the Welsh Parliament today, Mr Isherwood raised concerns over Flintshire’s fees and asked the Minister why North Wales Care Homes are poorly funded.
He said:
“The national vaccination strategy to 14th February included care home staff – but Care Forum Wales stated last week ‘The decision by Flintshire County Council to base care home fees on paying half the staff the minimum wage is an affront to care workers who had put their own lives on the line and heroically done their utmost to protect their residents from the deadly Coronavirus pandemic’.
“Responding, Flintshire County Council told me, ‘This is not a local issue and we work to regional funding formulas in the allocation of funding’ and ‘We have mutually agreed the annual uplifts with commissioned providers’.
“Responding to this, however, Care Forum Wales told me: ‘I don’t believe you will find a single independent care home provider who would agree that Flintshire’s 2021/22 fees uplift has been mutually agreed with providers’.
“How do you therefore respond to their question: ‘Why, when every shred of evidence shows that the dependency of residents in care homes during the last 20 years has increased significantly, North Wales fees have gone from the top of the league and now occupy the relegation zone?’.
In his response, the Minister said: “This Government is committed to a longer term future to revise not just the way the social care sector is organised but how we fund it, how we reward our staff. I look forward to all parties putting forward their alternative ways to properly fund social care in the future within the next manifestos we will all put before the people of Wales.”
Speaking afterwards, Mr Isherwood said: “I deeply regret that this Minister once again failed to take ownership of this serious issue of national unfairness, where Care Forum Wales also stated that ‘Flintshire are not being singled out particularly as they are simply the first North Wales Local Authority to announce their fees, which we all know from their track record on these matters is simply the usual ‘take it or leave it’ approach’ and that ‘It’s part of the increasing North/South divide in Wales with five of the bottom 10 payers being North Wales Councils while the highest rates are to be found in South East Wales’.”