Research for BBC Radio 4’s ‘You and Yours’ has shown that up to 3,000 elderly people will be unable to find a care home place by the end of 2018, and that the shortage of beds could rise to 70,000 beds by 2026.

This is reflected also by LaingBuisson research which has found that approximately 2,000 beds a year are lost in the elderly care home market, and that this fall in availability is concentrated in non-affluent parts of the country where there is a greater reliance on state payments.

William Laing, founder of LaingBuisson, and author of its flagship Care of Older People report, responded to the BBC report, saying:

‘You and Yours has once again found a worrying downward trend in care capacity, largely because council paid fees (and central government funding to support them) are inadequate to incentivise new investment in care homes in those areas, largely north of a line from The Wash to the Bristol Channel, where there are not enough private payers to boost profitability with premium fees.

‘ And it’s not just a matter of new homes, it’s also a matter of incentivising maintenance capital expenditure on existing care home stock. Without such continuing investment, it will not be possible to offer the physical environment in which society would wish older people with substantial care needs to live.’

 

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