Who will care for us in old age?
With demand for long-term care beds set to increase by 50% in the next 15 years (from 700 beds to 1,050 by 2038) due to the island's ageing population, it looks like a growth industry worth getting into.
And yet it appears that almost the opposite is true. The island has lost three care homes in recent years, one falling under States ownership, and the new policy letter report reveals that the standard rate paid by a States-supported resident is nowhere near the true cost of providing the bed, and the gap keeps growing.
The cost of a year’s care comes in at between £60-80,000.
But the cost of running a care home locally has increased by a third since 2018, compared to inflation at 21%. We’ve been underpaying in an increasingly expensive sector.
Four new care homes will be needed in the island before the end of the decade, it is predicted, but it’s a low-wage sector struck by a global shortage of staff and the high cost-of-living locally. So the States has a challenge not only to stabilise, but to try to incentivise the industry.
No wonder the island’s care homes are welcoming the ideas proposed, and no doubt the increases in fees will go some way towards stabilising the industry.
But if the private sector can’t be encouraged to invest, who will provide these beds for the islanders who will be ready and waiting for them?