A stark variation in the quality of care homes at a regional and local authority level across England has been highlighted by new research. The North West is the worst performing region in England when it comes to the proportion of satisfactory care homes, whilst London is the best performing region. In some areas such as Stockport or Salford, older people and their families face little choice of quality care, with three in five homes rated not good enough. The analysis by Independent Age, the older people’s charity, also found:
- The North West contains seven of the eight worst performing English local authorities on care home quality, with one in three care homes across the region performing poorly.
- The North West (33.6% of care homes performing poorly), Yorkshire and The Humber (32.2%) and Sout h East (28.2%) are the worst performing regions of England for care home quality.
- London (20.3% of care homes performing poorly), the East of England (20.8%) and the South West (21.1%) are the best performing regions for care home quality.
The analysis is based on CQC inspections of care homes which rate homes as either ‘Outstanding’, ‘Good’, ‘Requires improvement’ or ‘Inadequate’.
Simon Bottery, director of policy at Independent Age, said: “No one should be forced to live in an unsatisfactory care home but our analysis shows this is the grim reality in some parts of the country. The market is simply not providing a decent choice for older people and their families but there is little indication that local authorities or the government are giving the problem the attention it deserves.”
For more information visit www.independentage.org/sites/default/files /2017-04/Regional_care_home_performance_briefing.pdf.
