80,000 nursing home residents in poor standard accomodation
By Kati Dijane, 9th December 2009
More than 80,000 elderly people are living in poor quality
residential nursing homes, an official audit has found.
The Care Quality Commission said that almost 4,000 residential
homes across the country must improve the standard of service they
provide.
Eight local authorities including Bromley, Cornwall,
Peterborough, Poole, Solihull, South Tyneside, Southwark, and
Surrey were some of the councils blamed by the commission for
providing meager care services to the elder by placing them in
substandard nursing homes.
Elders are taken care of by 458,638 registered residential
nursing homes in England, of which the overall standard of these
places are dismally poor, with only 17 percent of them being
considered 'excellent'.
10 percent of homes fail to provide
"privacy and dignity" to the residents
Earlier this year, a report conducted by the commission revealed
that 30 percent of residential nursing homes did not succeed in
meeting the specific minimum standards for storing, handling and
providing residents' medication; while 10 percent of homes fail to
provide "privacy and dignity" to the residents.
The report also showed that a single room in a residential home
now costs approximately £25,000, and homes that grant nursing care
charge more than £35,000.
According to the House of Commons Library, 45,000 people in care
homes had to sell their houses to pay the nursing home fees last
year, an increase of 12 per cent in five years.
45,000 people in care homes had to sell
their houses to pay the nursing home fees last year
Cynthia Bower, the Care Quality Commission's chief executive,
said there had been a stable progress in standards since 2003,
though she was concerned about quality delivery on these homes.
David Rogers of the Local Government Association blamed the
regulator for poor residential nursing home standards. He said: "No
council ever chooses to deliberately place anyone in poor quality
accommodation."
Both the Labour and Conservative parties are promising to
overhaul the current system of care for the elderly.
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