Care homes looking for 'light at end of tunnel' as cost of living crisis continues

Dominic Poole, who runs Cheswardine Hall Nursing and Residential Home, near Market Drayton, has spoken of a four-fold impact caused by the current crisis – which is hitting homes, residents, their families and carers.

His fears come as Shropshire Partners in Care, a not-for-profit care association supporting independent adult social care providers across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, says it has members who have been quoted increases in their energy costs of 400 per cent.

Mr Poole says there is 'care sector fatigue' and greater engagement is needed from government to understand the impact on those within the industry.

"There's a great deal of concern on a number of points, and energy is an obvious one as it has been an absolute nightmare," said Mr Poole, who says his home may even have to look to go off-grid and use solar energy in the long term.

"Here, we were on a fixed term where we were paying roughly £20,000 a year which, in itself, is a good amount of money. Now I am getting quotes of £138,000 for the year. The same amount of energy but costing £118k more a year.

"The Government has come in and usefully said: 'We'll put the cap in place for businesses for six months'. That's £211 per megawatt which will mean £31.5K. The cap has been a lifeline but is it fully costed out?

"We have to renew by the start of November. The Government will cover six months but they haven't really said how we would be protected after that. So what happens then? Do I sign an energy deal for six months or 12 months?

"The numbers quoted are frightening and it's a real worry for care homes."

Mr Poole added: "We have 30 clients. Will we have to ask the residents for that extra money? It could be £50 a week or more– for nothing extra but just because it costs that to turn the lights on.

"You could find lots of care homes going bankrupt because we don't have that much profit. If social care falls over, the NHS falls over because we are the conduit that receives residents from hospitals to free up the beds.

"For example, we are getting quite a lot of rehab clients at the moment. It's a merry-go-round; when they are fit enough to leave hospital – but not to go home – they come to a care home. Domiciliary care hasn't got enough people to look after those coming through."

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Mr Poole added: "At the same time, house insurance for care homes has gone through the roof. We had no issues with Covid but our premium went up 100 per cent, so we have had to find £20-30k.

"You throw in currency, interest rates and inflation and that makes everything more expensive.

"We have carers who don't earn a huge amount and we would like to pay them more because it's a hard job. They're struggling because everything is more expensive and they have less money to spend on it.

"But if we pay more that means our elderly would have to pay more to fund it. A solution has to be found somewhere because we want to encourage people to join the sector but are struggling to recruit and resource people."

Mr Poole said: "It's just very difficult because costs are going up expeditiously – in insurance, food, fuel, energy and employment. We are hit, our carers are and residents are equally hit – their needs have got greater as they are older and they are feeling pinch.

"And, of course, the relatives of our residents are hit too, so we get it from all sides. There's not much light at the end of the tunnel right now.

"We just get bits drip fed through. There is no proactive support. Everything has been reactive and we have had to work through the quagmire. We are faced with questions like – how far can we push it before residents say 'You are too expensive?

"There's an appetite in the sector to help. We care. We are carers and take positives of all things. We try to help and make things right, it's ingrained in how we operate but we need engagement from government and I don't feel we get that."