THE county's social service departments are not paying anything like the weekly rate for an elderly person's nursing home care recommended by an independent report just published.
Research by the Joseph Roundtree Foundation suggests that a fair price for local authorities to pay for nursing home care is around £459 a week.
This takes account of average wages paid to care staff across the country, as well as all the other costs involved in running a nursing home including land and property prices.
The Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA), which represents almost 1,500 homes across the UK, says Hertfordshire social services is some way off the mark when it comes to paying a fair price.
A survey found Hertfordshire currently pays between £384 and £420 a week, depending on the individual's level of dependency.
The chief executive of RNHA Mr Frank Ursell said both government and local authorities need to "wake up to the economic realities" of looking after highly dependent older people.
He, and his association, are now calling on the government to increase their financial support for social care, but to ring-fence the extra money so that local authorities cannot divert the funds to other budgets.
July 4, 2002 15:30
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