Homes fail vulnerable

CARE homes operating for profit instead of serving the frail and elderly is a flawed system which works more in the interests of owners than the wider population.

The claim by the Alzheimer’s Society that patients with advanced dementia are being rejected because more money is made from accepting patients with conditions requiring fewer staff and less care is deeply concerning.

Compelling a home to take people would be difficult to enforce so the answer may be to revive local authority centres and expand charity places.

We should also stress that social care must be about helping the vulnerable rather than adding to the bottom line.

Individual care homes can be fine places yet we cannot ignore that some of the biggest chains have, in the past, been accused of functioning as ruthless businesses.

Rejected, confused people ending up in hospital simply transfers the cost to the NHS.

Let’s open care homes which care.