§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (I) if she will review her policy towards small residential and nursing homes to make it easier for bona fide private sector owners to register and operate homes with four or fewer beds;
(2) if she will consider allowing discretion to local officers to register small residential and nursing homes with four or fewer beds in rural areas where inadequate numbers of beds are available in the public sector;
(3) if she will make a statement outlining the reasons for refusing to register residential and nursing homes in the private sector with four or fewer beds.
477W
§ Mr. YeoAll independent nursing homes, whatever their size, are required to register with the health authority in whose area they fall.
At present private and voluntary residential care homes with fewer than four residents in need of care—small homes—are exempt from the registration requirement of the Registered Homes Act 1984. This exemption will be removed when the Registered Homes (Amendment) Act 1991 comes into force on 1 April 1993.
The only ground on which a local authority will be able to refuse to register someone liable to register in respect of a small home will be that that person or someone else involved in running the home is unfit to do so. This lighter regulatory approach is further reflected in the Residential Care Homes (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1992 which were laid on 21 September 1992.
Neither the Registered Homes Act nor the Department's guidance to local authorities differentiates between homes in rural and other areas. But they do provide scope for account to be taken of the particular circumstances of each home and the needs of its residents.