Not one care home rated ‘Outstanding’
available have been rated outstanding – but all are in neighbouring boroughs.
Only one adult social care organisation has achieved the highest standard – Bradley based domiciliary care agency, Active Social Care Limited.
Meanwhile, the health watchdog’s latest ‘State of Care’ review, reveals a desperate performance in caring for older people by care providers in Kirklees, both public and private, in recent years.
CQC analysis has found that almost one in three staff left the care industry in Kirklees during 2016/17, a deterioration from one in four only two years before.
In the past three years the number of available nursing home beds has dropped by more than 21% – at a time when demand is rising.
The levels of Kirklees’ elderly care home residents being sent to A&E is also more than a third higher than the national average – heaping unnecessary pressure on emergency care teams at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and Dewsbury and District Hospital.
Also, the number of care and nursing homes that are rated as ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requires Improvement’ is also almost double the England and Wales average.
Kirklees Council’s Cabinet member for Health, Clr Mus Khan, said: “The issue of recruiting and retaining staff in the social care sector is a challenge across the country, particularly for nursing homes who are often competing with the NHS for the same scarce staff.
“In Kirklees, there have been a number of care home closures over the last few years.
“Typically, these have been homes that have been in older buildings or where the care has been rated poorly by CQC.
“Residential and nursing home care is commissioned by the council and by the two local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and we have been working together to improve support to the care home sector.
“This includes investing in primary care to enable them to work more closely with care homes to reduce admissions to hospital.”
The huge drop in nursing home beds is largely due to private firms deciding they can no longer take the hit to their profits by investing in improvements to meet tougher CQC standards.
Over the past few years a number of care providers in the borough have shut down dilapidated old homes and re-opened them as bed sits for students or low rent social housing.
Outside of the care industry, only four more organisations have achieved Outstanding ratings.
They are: The Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, Dr Shamsee & Ward’s GP practice in Thongsbridge, Elmwood Family Doctors in Holmfirth and Dr N Chandra and Partners at Ravensthorpe.