Care homes shock of poor standards

ALEXANDRA Nursing Home was rated inadequate

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OLDHAM has been listed as the sixth worst place in Britain for care homes rated inadequate or requires improvement.

A charity report found almost 50 per cent of Oldham's care homes fell in the bottom two categories handed out by inspectors.

In the first three months of 2017 the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published reports which rated Edge Hill Residential Home, Alexandra Nursing Home and Abbey Hey Care Home as inadequate.

The Oldham Chronicle also reported on the requires improvement reports given to Royley House Care Home and Springfield House earlier this year.

Research carried out by Independent Age found the North-West houses the worst performing homes in England, with one in three underachieving.

A huge North-South divide in the quality of homes was also revealed, with London, the South-West and East containing the best.

Closer to home, Treelands and Acorn Lodge were among the top performing homes in Oldham, both receiving good ratings this year.

Older people's charity Independent Age said a lack of funding from local authorities, difficulties recruiting staff and the absence of a support mechanism to improve struggling care homes was responsible for the variation in quality.

Director of policy Simon Bottery 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.

"The Government has an opportunity to address this in its upcoming Green Paper on social care but, in the meantime, councils must demonstrate that they understand the reasons for care home failures and are working to resolve them."

Poor

Older residents and their families in places such as Stockport and Salford are left with little choice of quality care when it comes to selecting a home as three in five are rated not good enough.

A shocking 62.9 per cent of care homes in Stockport had received either an inadequate or requires improvement rating in their CQC report.

Salford came in at 61.5 per cent of homes rated as poor performers while Tameside accounted for 54.8 per cent and Oldham 48.6 per cent.

The Independent Age report, based on CQC inspection data, forms part of a wider campaign to improve the quality of care homes available to older residents.