A report by the Care Quality Commission shows that paying more for a care home doesn’t always been a better quality of care.
The data from trustedcare.co.uk shows that the areas with the most expensive residential care have some of the worst ratings from the regulator.
Overall the best care was found in Herefordshire, Warwickshire and Rutland. The worse areas for care were identified as the Isle of Wight, West Yorkshire and Oxfordshire.
The Tyne & Wear was top third in the country for the standard of care provided in both nursing and care home. Yet their weekly cost was almost half what is being charged in Oxfordshire.
The Daily Telegraph reported Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK saying:
“This new league table suggests that finding a good care home is a postcode lottery, and tracking down a good and affordable care home harder still.
It seems increasingly to be the case that unless you have substantial wealth it is extraordinarily hard to secure really good residential care, but even if you are in that fortunate position this table implies you may not get what you want.”
The Local Government Ombudsman, the watchdog which handles unresolved complaints to councils, said that complaints about care for the elderly and disabled in England has risen by 18% in the past year, with 55% of these claims being upheld.
Complaints specifically about care homes rose by a quarter, with 60% being upheld by the watchdog.
The increase is an indicator that the care system is struggling, and that more people are coming forward to report poor services to those in charge.
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