Care home leaders have warned the sector is fast approaching “tipping point” due to soaring operational costs and staffing shortages.

The stark warning came during a keynote Caring Times panel discussion during the Healthcare Summit at the Business Design Centre on Friday.

Nadra Ahmed OBE, executive chairman of the National Care Association, and chair of The Care Provider Alliance, said providers were at their “wits’ end” and were facing “enormous pressures” with operational costs expected to rise by almost a third in 2023.

The NCA head said despite the provision of new money by the government in the Autumn Budget, she had been told at a recent council meeting there would be no increase in care home funding.

“The state of the social care sector after years of neglect, glimmers of hope, backed up by lies, has created a really destabilised market,” Ahmed said. “My worry is as a representative of small and medium sized providers we will see some closures and that will make things worse for the health sector.”

Robert Kilgour, executive chairman and founder of Renaissance Care, said these were “very challenging times” for the sector which was “running on fumes”.

Kilgour said the decision on whether energy bill support would be extended beyond March next year could be a “tipping point”.

The care home leader said Scottish providers were generally “better off” than those in England, however, thanks to nurse bursaries, a guaranteed nursing rate of £833 a week and the carers’ living wage of £10.50 for anyone over the age of 18.

Group operations director, Martin Murphy, agreed there were regional variations in support in England and Wales where Hallmark Care Homes operates.

“We find that local authorities recognise the cost of care more in Wales,” Murphy said. “We have more interaction with our local authorities.”

Despite the sector’s challenges, each panel member stressed there were reasons to be optimistic about the future, with the pandemic having accelerated technology take-up and encouraged providers to talk more with each as well as with the NHS.