THE ASSEMBLY administration must reconsider its decision to pass on the burden of unexpected costs to local health boards.

An Assembly u-turn on funding guidance, announced almost at the last minute during the budgeting process, will leave LHBs struggling to find the money needed to fund the accommodation as well as healthcare costs of patients in nursing homes.

In Newport alone the cost is expected to be in the region of £3m, across Gwent that could top £8m and that will mean the money will have to come from other services to pay for it.

That could mean ward closures or mergers, bed reductions and the phasing out of hundreds of NHS posts.

The increased costs is the direct result of a High Court ruling which cemented the principle that if a person has to go into a nursing home for healthcare reasons then the NHS has to fund the whole of the bill.

But the problem has been compounded in Wales by the mixed messages coming out of the Assembly since the 2006 "Grogan judgement."

Until very recently LHBs were under the distinct impression the money would be funded centrally by the Assembly.

That all changed at the last minute leaving LHBs facing an unacceptable financial burden which will inevitably affect patient care and that is unacceptable.