Now end the horror of care home abuse
PM speaks out as calls grow to shake up broken system
THERESA MAY said last night that it is unacceptable and worrying that four in ten care homes are failing inspections.
The Prime Minister’s intervention came amid mounting pressure for an overhaul of the social care system following a Daily Mail investigation.
Yesterday, we revealed how watchdogs have reported on 5,300 care homes this year and found 2,000 to be inadequate or in need of improvement.
This means 70,000 vulnerable residents are at risk. Inspectors found elderly residents were filthy and starving, with some left for up to nine hours without food.
Others were locked in bedrooms with no natural light and kept in soiled clothes for days. Responding to the Mail’s findings, Mrs May’s spokesman said: ‘We are providing extra funding into social care and we want to make sure that people are able to live in good standard homes.
‘Any reports of abuse in care homes or conditions which are not acceptable are worrying. That is why we have put in place a robust inspection regime.’ But Tory MPs said the social care system is broken and the Government must do far more to protect the elderly and vulnerable.
Last month, the Care Quality Commission published figures which suggested that out of 14,900 care homes, 22.5 per cent were failing. But the figures were based on inspections since 2014.
A separate audit carried out by the Mail focusing on thousands of inspection reports from 2017 alone suggests the crisis in care homes is far more severe than previously thought. We found that 38 per cent of more than 5,000 homes reported on this year have been declared inadequate or in need of improvement.
Homes can be given one of four ratings – outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate – by CQC inspectors.
Out of 5,361 reports published so far this year, more than 2,000 care homes have received the worst two ratings. A total of 262 have been rated inadequate and only 86 are outstanding.
And 9,000 care home residents are not guaranteed to be protected from abuse or avoidable harm. Some of the worst homes inspected were filthy, dementia sufferers were being handled roughly by carers, and residents were in agony after staff forgot to give them painkillers.
But watchdogs have only successfully criminally prosecuted five homes in the past two years.
Tory MP Andrew Percy, who used to sit on the health select committee, said the Mail’s findings are deeply concerning.
He added: ‘We are a number of years on from when some of the appalling abuses in care homes were first highlighted. The country has not got to grips with how we care for our increasingly ageing population.’
Fellow Tory MP Peter Bone said: ‘Clearly the system is broken. It’s desperately sad that people are forced to spend the last years of their lives living in terrible circumstances. Urgent action must be taken to ensure that homes are providing quality care.’
Campaigners and charity bosses said care homes are failing in their duty to treat the elderly with respect and compassion. Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, said: ‘Surely it’s not too much to expect that older people and their families can feel confident that if they need to move to a care home, they will be looked after professionally.’
Jeremy Hughes, of the Alzheimer’s Society, added: ‘It’s time for action, before the care system collapses entirely.’
While there have been only five successful CQC prosecutions, the watchdog has taken 1,605 civil enforcement actions against adult care services in the last two years. Andrea Sutcliffe, of the CQC, said: ‘There is too much poor care. We are playing our part by driving improvement and holding providers to account.’
Downing Street yesterday refused to agree to a Royal Commission into the future of social care, as recommended by Mrs May’s former joint chief of staff Nick Timothy on Saturday. A spokesman said: ‘I’m not aware of any plans.’