Rutland County Council is going back out to the market after a number of its home care providers have dropped out.

The authority – which spends just over £1m per year on home care for 85 elderly residents – has lost five of its providers for reasons including problems recruiting staff and service viability.

The shortfall is being covered by the council's in-house team, however the authority says this could impact on the home care service the council can provide to patients coming out of hospital.

Councils are fined bed blocking charges if they hold up hospitals being able to discharge patients back home because a care package is not in place. 

At this morning's (21 Jan) cabinet meeting the authority decided to re-tender the contracts to secure some additional new providers.

It has been approached already by seven providers who say they could deliver the service.

The contracts would last until 2022.

The report considered by the cabinet said: "This reliance on the council's in-house services presents a risk that as winter pressures are experienced, in-house provision will be left with limited capacity, potentially causing delays for individuals being discharged from hospital. 

"Officers have met with the current providers to ascertain whether any additional measures can be put in place to support them to pick up any further packages. 

"Whilst mitigating actions have been put in place, the need to maintain sufficient capacity within the system remains and has not been entirely resolved.

"There continues to be a risk."

The authority pays providers £17.20 per hour for the service. Each year it provides about 75,000 hours of care to residents.