Outrage over beds scandal in care homes
HALF of all care home beds in some parts of England are in homes rated inadequate or requiring improvement, an investigation has found.
Six local authority areas were the worst, according to the analysis of Care Quality Commission data by consumer magazine Which?
The low standards are particularly acute in the London borough of Westminster, where seven in 10 care home beds were in homes rated as requiring improvement or inadequate.
In Manchester and Wakefield, three in five beds are in low quality care homes closely followed by Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, (57 per cent), Portsmouth (56 per cent) and Tameside, Staffordshire, (55 per cent).
Shocking
In total nearly a third of local authority areas have one in three beds or more in poor-quality care homes, the Which? research found.
Janet Morrison, chief executive of Independent Age, the older people’s charity, said: “The lack of quality care available in some parts of the country is nothing short of scandalous.
“It is simply unacceptable that, in some areas, more than half the beds available are in care homes rated poor or inadequate.
“This means a shocking lack of choice for some older people and their families.
“None of us want to live somewhere that is below par, and that doesn’t change if we have to live in a care home.”
Overall the analysis highlights the huge regional variation in the provision of quality local care across the country in the current care market. Many people have had to wait years to find a suitable home or are forced to live away from their families.
Alex Hayman, of Which?, said: “Having to choose a poor care home isn’t really making a choice at all and it’s disturbing to know that so many people across the country are already in care homes that are clearly not good enough.”
The research, which compared the quality of local provision in 151 council areas which provide adult social care, found a small number of areas where at least nine in 10 care home beds are in homes rated as good or outstanding.
These include the Isles of Scilly (100 per cent) Richmond upon Thames (94 per cent), Rutland (91 per cent) and Blackburn with Darwen (90 per cent).