Mr. RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health under what circumstances people who, through ill health, require nursing care have to pay for accommodation in nursing homes. [105565]
§ Mr. HuttonGuidance issued by the Department to health authorities in 1995 set out a national framework against which health authorities, in consultation with local authorities, were required to review their existing arrangements for continuing health care and to draw up local policies and eligibility criteria for individual case decisions about the need for National Health Service funded care. This includes the range, location and level of services which will be arranged and funded by the NHS to meet continuing health care needs in their area.
We are currently reviewing continuing care policy with a view to issuing revised guidance later this year.
Local authority social services have always had a very important role in supporting people, either in their own homes or in residential care. Where a person is provided with nursing home or residential care accommodation by a local authority under Part III of the National Assistance Act 1948, section 22 of that Act provides for them to be charged for the accommodation.
The Royal Commission on Long-Term Care recommended changes to the charging system. Decisions on the system of funding long-term care will be taken as part of the current spending review.