Which? Report Highlights Lack Of “Quality Care”
A lack of good quality care means some parts of the country have more than half of their care home beds in homes rated as requiring improvement or inadequate, according to a new investigation by consumer champion Which?.
Which? analysis of Care Quality Commission (CQC) data shows that in six local authority areas, good quality care home places are so limited that 50 per cent or more of local beds are in homes rated as requiring improvement or inadequate, making it less likely that people looking to move into a care home will be able to find a good place near where they live.
Which? is urging the Government to ensure it looks at quality, provision and choice in its Green paper, as it prepares to respond to the findings of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) final report into the care home market, expected later this week.
The existing lack of good quality care is particularly acute in the London borough of Westminster, where seven in 10 (69%) beds were found in care homes rated as requiring improvement or inadequate. In Manchester and Wakefield, three in five beds (58%) are in care homes that are rated as requiring improvement or inadequate, closely followed by Kirklees (57%), Portsmouth (56%) and Tameside (55%).
In total, nearly a third (45 councils) of local authority areas have one in three beds or more in poor-quality care homes. Nine of these are in the capital and include Tower Hamlets (48%), Islington (47%), Kensington and Chelsea (46%), Newham (41%), Haringey (41%), Barnet (40%), Ealing (35%) and Harrow (33%).
While the research, which compared the quality of local provision in 151 council areas that provide adult social care, provides some worrying figures, there are 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%) Richmond upon Thames (94%), Rutland (91%) and Blackburn with Darwen (90%).
Overall, the analysis highlights the huge regional variation in the provision of quality local care across the country in the current care market. Which? has already heard from hundreds of relatives of care home residents, who have highlighted existing problems in the care system. Some have had to wait years to find a suitable care home or have had to place their relative far away, as there was no suitable place available locally.
Which? is warning that this picture could rapidly worsen, as demand starts to outstrip supply in an increasing number of local areas, putting increasing pressure on care home places. Previous Which? research shows that almost nine in 10 council areas across England could see a shortfall in care home places by 2022.
While the CQC regulates quality and the CMA’s study will focus on market-wide issues including provision, Which? is calling on the Government to look at the care system as a whole when it responds in its forthcoming Green Paper, so that these problems can be tackled once and for all.
Alex Hayman, Which? Managing director of Public Markets, 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 Government must use its Green Paper to tackle the very real issues in care, including quality, provision and choice, before the situation gets much worse.”
Responding to a report, Margaret Willcox, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), said:
“ADASS believes that everyone deserves to experience high-quality, personal, dignified adult social care if they need it.
“There is a lot of great care provided by dedicated leaders and staff to people in their own homes and in care homes. This was recognised in last month’s CQC’s ‘state of adult social care services report’, which showed that nearly four in five adult social care services were rated ‘good’ and many others have improved, although we recognise that more must be done to improve quality to provide more fulfilling lives to those that use them.
“However, efforts to address this are being hampered by funding and workforce pressures, the rising cost of providing care, increasing demand because more older and disabled people are living longer, and the welcome national living wage.
“This is putting the sustainability of the sector at significant risk and in turn risks undermining the quality of care that people experience.
“Whilst we are pleased that Government has committed to publishing its Green Paper on social care next summer, more needs to be done now to secure extra recurring money to address continuing service pressures and the stability of the care market.”
