THE number of care homes in Scotland has plunged by one-quarter since the turn of the millennium while the number of pensioners has climbed by 18 per cent.
New figures show residential places for the frail elderly are continuing to fall. Nine closed their doors in the more recent financial year.
More people are being looked after in their own homes, in line with Scottish Government policy.
However, Ranald Mair, chief executive officer of Scottish Care, which represents care providers, said as the number of 85-year-olds increases "there will inevitably be more demand for care home provision".
Care homes also have the potential to be used as a stop-gap between home and hospital, freeing ward beds for new patients, according to Mr Mair. He added: "It is therefore crucial that local commissioners make sure they get the numbers right in terms of care home capacity and what might be required in the future."
The report on care home capacity, published by the statistics arm of the Scottish NHS yesterday, showed the number of care homes in Scotland is down from 1,669 in March 2000 to 1,249 in March this year. The number that specialise in elderly care has fallen from 1,059 to 902. Bigger homes mean the total number of registered care places had dropped less steeply, but the figure is still in decline.
The same report also revealed the cost of a care home place to pensioners who fund their own care has risen to an average of £712 a week. This is up from £535 in 2007. Councils, meanwhile, pay an average of £534 for pensioners who cannot afford their fees - up from £438 seven years ago.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We recognise an increasingly elderly population with more complex needs will need a health and social care system that responds differently to their needs. That is why we are introducing the integration of health and social care, helping people move between the two services more easily."
He added that care home providers are working with the government and councils to design cost-effective, flexible models of specialist residential care, which support people short-term to regain their independence.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article