A third of local care homes rated inadequate or requiring improvement

Independent Age

The Borough of Rochdale has 31% of care homes rated as Inadequate or Requires Improvement, according to an analysis by Independent Age.

The older people’s charity used CQC inspection data to work out a total figure for the percentage of homes in any local authority that are rated either ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requires Improvement’.

Rochdale is far from the worst performing region in Greater Manchester, four of the ten areas that make up Greater Manchester have more than half of homes rated either ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requires Improvement’: in Stockport 63% of homes are rated as Inadequate or Requiring Improvement, in Salford the figure is 62%, in Tameside 55% and in Manchester 51%.

In contrast, in Bolton 21% of care homes are rated Inadequate or Requires Improvement and in Bury only around 13% of care homes are rated Inadequate or Requires Improvement.

The North West is the worst performing region in England with 34% of care homes performing poorly.

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.

"Money is likely to be one cause but not the only one.

"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."

Sheila Downey, the council’s director of adult services, said: "As a responsible council, the quality of care homes in the borough is of huge importance to us.

"About 70% of care homes across Rochdale have been rated as good by the Care Quality Commission, a far higher figure than the Greater Manchester average.

"There is more to do and we are working very closely with care homes that require improvement to help improve their standards of care. The safety, care needs and wellbeing of our residents will always be our priority."