FEES at a residential home have rocketed by £240 a month – because of a lack of council funding.

Dementia patients at Park Hall Care Home, in Bentilee, will have to pay out an extra £60 per week from January 1, following the decision earlier this month.

It means residents who currently pay £485 will have to meet a new weekly cost of £545.

Ideal Carehomes, who run the Ubberley Road facility, say they have been forced to increase fees because a Stoke-on-Trent City Council subsidy does not reflect ‘the true cost of providing quality care.’

Mark Greaves, managing director of Ideal Carehomes, said: “We have been relentlessly lobbying ministers, civil servants and local authorities to establish a fairer framework for fees across the country and one which does not discriminate against self-funding residents.

“Through strenuous efforts, we have managed to maintain our self-funding fee at a level significantly below that of other homes of a comparable quality.

“But it is with regret that our only option to sustain and secure the business going forward is to increase the fee to the level previously described.”

He added: “This has been somewhat forced upon us by the current banking climate, increased underpinning costs and local authority fees, which do not reflect the true cost of providing quality care.”

Mr Greaves told The Sentinel how Stoke-on-Trent City Council is planning to pay £412 per week to support residential care, or £58.86 per day for 24 hour care, support and accommodation. But he claims the true cost of care lies in the region of £600 per person per week.

The difference between the council support and the full price is paid by the residents

Janet Smallwood, of Berryhill, whose 93-year-old aunt has been living at the home since 2010, has written to the Office of Fair Trading in the hope the company will make a U-turn on its decision to increase prices.

She said: “The home is excellent but what is happening here is an outrage which needs highlighting. I will fight this because we are being forced to pay more money.

“If I don’t pay, I could be forced to take my aunt out of the home.

“But the last thing I want to do is remove her because she is happy and settled there and it wouldn’t be in her best interests.”

Malcolm Jennings, from Madeley, whose 86-year-old mother is a resident in the home, said: “I have threatened to take my mother out of the home, but it hasn’t made a difference.”

Councillor Gwen Hassall, cabinet member for social care, said: “The proposal to increase fees by 2.1 per cent has been based on feedback received from care home providers and information published by the Government.

“The fees paid by the council are regularly compared with other authorities and research shows that they are among the highest in the West Midlands.”

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