Many care homes ‘need to improve’

KIND-HEARTED bank staff and customers gave generously to a toy appeal.

For the fourth year running, colleagues from local Halifax branches helped Heckmondwike Salvation Army with their annual Christmas Toy Appeal.

Branches in Huddersfield, Cleckheaton, Batley and Heckmondwike asked customers to donate to the good cause and the bank staff also prepared food parcels for the families involved.

Halifax branches in Kirklees and Calderdale answered an appeal by the former One Good Turn charity to find into one of the bottom two categories.

Eighteen were told they required improvement while three were judged inadequate.

Inadequate rated care homes in Calderdale included Lands House, Rastrick, and Eagle Care Home, Elland.

Only 25 were rated good while one – Waterside Lodge in Todmorden – was rated outstanding.

Good homes included St Anne’s Community Services, Brighouse, and Norton House, Elland.

On average across England, 26.6% of care homes are judged by the CQC to either require improvement or be inadequate.

The figures, published by the CQC at the Christmas selection boxes for local children who would otherwise have had very little on Christmas Day.

Jonathan Wales, branch manager in Halifax, said “I’d like to thank our customers for their generosity during the recent selection box appeal.” start of December, reflect the latest situation reported to the CQC at that time.

It is possible that a small number of care homes have since been re-inspected and received a different overall grade.

Some may have since closed or been taken over by a new owner.

In four places – all in Greater Manchester – more than half of all care homes fell into the two bottom categories.

They are Stockport (63.8%), Salford (60.5%), Tameside (58.6%) and Manchester (52.9%).

Across the country as a whole, the places with the lowest percentage of care homes rated either inadequate or requiring improvement overall were Richmond upon Thames in London (2.3%), Thurrock (2.9%), Wokingham (6.1%), Islington (6.3%) and Blackburn with Darwen (6.3%).

Warwickshire had the highest number of outstanding homes, with nine.

There are 14,229 care homes across England. They offer accommodation and personal care for people who cannot live independently, such as the elderly and those with learning difficulties.

Some places are publicly funded but many people pay for their own care.