Many elderly people face eviction if their care home closes

Despite an ageing population, Wales has lost hundreds of care beds over the last two years.

A recent study has predicted an extra 5,000 elderly people will need a care home place by 2020.

Campaigners from the independent and voluntary sectors will be asking the assembly for what they call a fair price for the care they provide to prevent homes from closing.

They will unveil a billboard poster questioning the funding of the independent sector.

Money

Assembly government figures obtained by BBC Wales' Dragon's Eye programme show the number of beds has gone down by nearly 900 over the last two and a half years.

Home closures have already led to many elderly people being moved at short notice, sometimes to several different homes, causing immense stress.

However private care home owners, who provide most of the care in Wales, say the fees they are paid by local authorities are far too low.

Councils say they are not getting enough money from the assembly, while the assembly contends it has given them more.

Plaid Cymru Shadow Health Minister Rhodri Glyn Thomas has urged the Labour Government in the Assembly to act urgently to stop the closure of care homes in Wales.

Additional cost

Mr Thomas, who took over as Plaid's Shadow Health Minister on Thursday, said: "We are losing almost 100 beds a month in the care home sector simply because the homes cannot afford to stay open.

"Plaid Cymru has long had a policy of providing an additional �50 a week for each bed in the family-run care home sector. This would cost a total of �28 million a year.

"When you see vulnerable elderly people being forced out of care homes against their will to face an uncertain future, it makes you question our right to consider ourselves a civilised nation.

"Care home closures are also putting intolerable pressure on our health service."

Home workers and relatives want an end to what they see as buck-passing, and swift action to address the problem.

Care Forum Wales, the organisation representing the Welsh independent care sector, has been campaigning on the issue all year.

Mario Kreft, the forum's head of policy and public affairs said: "What we want to know is whether the escalating care home closures across Wales is evidence of a conspiracy between the assembly and the Welsh Local Government Association to dismantle and ultimately eradicate the independent care home sector."