Highland care home sector collapse could also sink the NHS as Councillor David Gregg warns 'Raigmore runs, Belford runs and Caithness General runs because patients are in care homes'
There are dire warnings the “potential collapse of the care home sector” in the Highlands would lead to “the collapse of the entire NHS,” according to Councillor David Gregg.
Both Highland Council and NHS Highland have agreed to an emergency meeting on the issue to try and find some kind of a solution.
Neither organisation is able to find more cash for care homes so when a facility is lost it is not replaced at a time of increasing demand.
Related Content:
The fundamental problems faced by the sector include – the inability to recruit and retain staff who also lack accommodation, ongoing short notice closures and little capacity to relocate residents.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney has already advised councils in a letter in response to a call to utilise reserves that no more money should be expected.
Cllr Gregg, who is a doctor, said: “The potential collapse of the care home sector is not just a collapse of the care home sector, it is the collapse of the entire NHS.
“A seven per cent cut to our adult social care department will make the collapse more likely and I know that we have to look at cuts across the council but where does the administration see that coming in our adult social care directorate?
“Raigmore runs, Belford runs and Caithness General runs because patients are in care homes – if all the patients are not in care homes then they won’t all be in their own homes, some of them will fill up hospitals and acute beds.”
Chairman of the health and social care committee David Fraser said: “Some of the challenges that we have come from our geography, our low density population and that means care homes are relatively small in the Highlands and therefore difficult to get economy of scale and relatively expensive to run. We also have a growing ageing population – within the term of this council it is anticipated that there will be a 15 per cent increase in the over-75 population and slightly smaller increase in the over-85s.
“If nothing changes, that would require an extra 240 spaces in care homes – that is just part of the challenge ahead of us.”
"The cost of living crisis which we are all facing is adding to an already difficult process and we have already seen the impact of this with three managed care home closures, three ownership transfers and two others are in the market."
He added: "So in summary we have increased demand in the market in a time of fewer facilities and huge financial challenges."
