Response to LTC Update
Following the Government of Jersey’s publication of an LTC Update which can be found here, we have written to Ministers to express our grave and urgent concerns regarding:
1. Distribution & Consultation
The message was only distributed to a few Care Homes, excluding Home Care providers and the JCF. More worryingly we were not consulted at all on the LTC Update, despite a meeting only weeks ago with the Heath and Social Services Ministers where we were given assurances that things would be changing.
2. Content of LTC Update
Our concerns regarding the content of the LTC Update include:
The Care Home rate uplift is low to moderate, however, most worryingly, there is no back payment to September 2022, in effect reducing the rate. Businesses were not prepared for this and had been planning based on the assumption that government would act in good faith in this matter.
The Home Care rate is expressed as being 'up to 12%’ - this seems to suggest everyone will get a different % rate? If this is correct (we have no way of knowing) then effectively nothing has changed for the Home Care industry - the uncertainty around LTC pricing that is jeopardising businesses remains.
Again, for the Home Care rate there is no back payment even though Government acknowledges use of RPI in their calculations, which is now retrospective. This means that many providers will now effectively be running at a loss.
There is a reference to a ‘weekly’ rate and an ‘hourly’ rate which makes it impossible to accurately apply - again, consultation would have pre-emptively resolved this.
Delays to review the current structuring of payments continues to disadvantage many clients and monies are not paid, despite the client being entitled.
We have made it clear to Ministers that this process and the LTC Update as it stands are unacceptable. We have asked again for a joint meeting with the Health and Social Security departments, and over the next few days we will be providing our detailed feedback on the document and producing an LTC Update that we believe would work for Jersey.