Care homes fail to meet standards
MORE than half of care homes in Tameside fail to meet national standards - the highest proportion in the country, according to new analysis.
The charity Independent Age examined the Care Quality Commission’s reports of all care homes in the country and the results paint a bleak picture in Greater Manchester.
According to the study by Independent Age, 56.8 per cent of Tameside’s homes are rated as ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’
Manchester came fourth nationally in the list, with 43.8 per cent of homes failing to meet acceptable standards.
Stockport (43.3 per cent) and Trafford (43.1 per cent) came sixth and seventh, meaning four Greater Manchester local authority areas are in the top 10 nationally. Oldham and Salford feature in the top 20.
But of those six, the figures are an improvement on 2017 levels for all but Tameside. A marked improvement has been recorded in Salford.
The charity said the figures showed ‘dramatic variations’ in the quality of care homes across the country, but acknowledged care homes can improve quickly.
The study reveals that nationally, the number of ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ care homes has increased, with the number of ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ rated homes falling.
Independent Age (IA) attacked low levels of funding from government and local authorities, poor pay and difficulties recruiting staff, as well as the lack of a good support mechanism for homes to call on. The charity said CQC inspection data from January 2018 was used to work out total figures.
IA chief executive Janet Morrison said: “Older people and their families are still facing an unenviable choice between poor care homes in some parts of the country.
“While it is encouraging that there has been an overall improvement in quality, this masks persistent variation in the quality of care homes within each region of the country. The market simply does not seem to be able to drive the rapid improvement needed in many areas.
“While the government seems happy to deflect all decisions about social care into the vague promise of a green paper, local authorities are having to make difficult decisions now about care in their area.
“We urgently need both government and local authorities to demonstrate they understand the reasons for this variation and that they have the ability to address it.”
Dominic Carter, of the Alzheimer’s Society, meanwhile described the figures as ‘shocking and shameful’ and said residents with dementia were ‘at the mercy of a system on the brink of collapse.’
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Eightyone per cent of care services are rated as good or outstanding, and we’re committed to driving further improvements and reducing variation. That’s why we’re consulting soon on new measures to do just that, and have provided local authorities with an extra £2bn funding as well as a further £150m for next year.”