The NHS contribution towards the costs of a place in a care home with nursing is being increased on an interim basis to £156.25
According to the NHS, the rates for eligible care home residents assessed to require the help of a registered nurse will be as follows:
- standard rate will be increased to £156.25 per week
- higher rate will be increased to £215.04 per week (this is only relevant for those people who were already on the higher rate in 2007 when the single band was introduced)
- Registered nursing care for eligible nursing home residents is funded by the NHS and the weekly rate per patient is currently set at £112
- The increase follows an independent review of the rate paid by the NHS to nursing homes (known as NHS-funded nursing care). The review, carried out by Mazars LLP, recommends that the NHS-funded nursing care rate should increase by 40% to £156.25
- The government accepts the recommendation, which means that clinical commissioning groups will now pay a national rate of £156.25. The increase will be backdated to 1 April 2016 for individuals who were in receipt of NHS-funded nursing care from that time
- The new rate is being paid on an interim basis while further work is done to review the element of the rate for agency nursing staff (which could lead to a reduction to the rate from 1 January 2017) and to consult on introducing regional variation from April 2017
- These rates are based on the best evidence currently available to the Department of Health