PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
SHORTAGE OF CARE HOMES (26 November 2003)

That this house deplores the comments made by the honourable Member for South Thanet, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health in 'This Caring Business' stating that there is no national crisis in the sector; calls on the Government to recognise the serious crisis in the care home sector which has suffered the loss of over 70,000 long-term care places since 1997 and 13,400 elderly care places in the 15 months to April according to the most recent figures from the independent healthcare analysts Laing and Buisson; notes with concern that the number of people receiving domiciliary care has fallen by almost 100,000 since 1997; is gravely alarmed at the current rate of care home closures which force around 10,000 people from their homes every year and, if the Government's 1997 estimate of the associate death rate is correct, means that as many as 1,000 people may die annually as a direct result of these home closures; recognises that as a result of the projected growth in demand and the rate of decline in availability of care, overall demand for care home places will outstrip supply by 2005; deplores the Government's over-prescriptive, expensive and bureaucratic regulation which has greatly exacerbated the crisis in the care home sector and has driven many care home closures; and calls on the Government to take meaningful action to significantly reduce the current rate of care home closures and combat the decline in the availability of domiciliary care rather than simply and disingenuously disregard the current crisis.

Sponsored by:
Mr Tim Yeo (Conservative)