§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of (1) the cumulative percentage increases in age-standardised projected demand for care home places for older people from 2001 levels, in(a) England and (b) each local authority providing social services, in each year from 2001 to 2011; [26519]
(2) age-standardised demand for care home places for older people (a) in England and (b) in each local authority responsible for social services in each year from 2001 to 2011. [26523]
§ Jacqui Smith[holding answer 14 January 2002]The Performance Assessment Framework Indicator C26 shows the usage of residential and nursing care homes by each local council in England for people aged 65 and over and indicator C32 the usage of home care. Copies of the `Social Services Performance Assessment Framework Indicators, 2000–01' are available in the Library
Recent work by the Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) at the London School of Economics, commissioned by the Department, suggests that, in England, residential care places for older people will need to increase by 7.2 per cent. over the period 2000 to 2010 and that nursing care places for older people will need to increase by 7.7 per cent. The research also suggests that home care hours for older people will need to increase by 7.5 per cent. over the same period. These projections assume current patterns of care. The pressures may 623W change as a result of government policies. Projections are not available for each council with social services responsibility or for individual years.
Further information on these projections and the model on which they are based can be found in the recent report by the PSSRU on "Demand for Long Term Care for Older People in England", published in Health Statistics Quarterly 12, Winter 2001, a copy of which is in the Library.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will require the new strategic health authorities to incorporate in their eligibility criteria the words of Lord Woolf in R v. North and East Devon health authority ex-parte Coughlan on the limits to the powers of social service departments to pay for nursing home places. [31206]
§ Jacqui SmithThe new strategic health authorities (SHAs) will be required to compile eligibility criteria that reflect the guidance issued in June 2001 (Health Service Circular 2001/015:Local Authority Circular (2001)18).
The guidance itself reflects very closely the Court of Appeal judgment ex-parte Coughlan.
Paragraph 20 of the guidance makes clear both the limits of the powers of social services departments to pay for nursing home places, and that the content is drawn from the Judgment:
The Judgment stated that a local council could provide nursing care under section 21 of the National Assistance Act only where:the services are merely incidental or ancillary to the provision of the accommodation a local authority is under duty to provide to those whom section 21 refers;and is of a nature which it can be expected to be provided by a council whose primary responsibility is to provide social services.The two indents in paragraph 20 of the guidance very closely reflect the words of the judgment at page 12, paragraph 30 (e). It will be for each SHA to determine the wording of their eligibility criteria in light of the guidance.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that no patient receiving free continuing care will be reassessed as falling outside the criteria for continuing care as a result of new eligibility criteria being drawn up for April 2002 by the new strategic health authorities. [31238]
§ Jacqui SmithMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will ensure that new eligibility criteria are drawn up in line with the continuing care guidance issued in June 2001 (Health Service Circular 2001/015: Local Authority Circular (2001)18). It is not envisaged that patients whose needs are of a nature, complexity, intensity or unpredictability that they currently require fully funded continuing national health service health care will cease to receive that care as a result of the new eligibility criteria being drawn up by strategic health authorities.