By Jay Unger
A quarter of all care homes in the UK that were labelled “inadequate” in the past month were based in Yorkshire.
Of the 68 homes nationally that were judged inadequate after routine inspections by the Care Quality Commission, 17 were in Yorkshire.
And eight – more than 40% – of those were in West Yorkshire.
Latest figures published by the clinical commissioning group reveal there were five “inadequate” homes in South Yorkshire and four in East Yorkshire, but none in North Yorkshire.
The latest detailed reports of unannounced inspections by the watchdog revealed that some residential care homes were seriously under-performing and not meeting the required standards expected, putting elderly residents at risk and jeopardising their safety.
Extracts from a report into Brandon House nursing home, in Meanwood, Leeds, outlined concerns that hygiene was a major issue and that appropriate standards of cleanliness were not always maintained.
The report said: “When the member of staff lifted the mattress we noticed there was faeces along the side.”
It also said there was a severe lack of staff to ensure the safety of residents and not everyone who worked there went through suitable background checks: “Staff recruitment practices at the home did not protect people from staff unsuitable to work with vulnerable people.”
Himat Gamit, director of Esteem Care Ltd, which runs the home, said: “We are working with the CQC and local authority to ensure that the care and management of service users continues to be maintained at a high level whilst the shortfalls identified are addressed.
“We have already made significant progress since the November inspections and are confident that Brandon House will achieve full compliance in the specified timeline.”
Debbie Westhead, the CQC’s deputy chief inspector for adult social care in the north, said: “Looking at all adult social care services published so far with a rating – most are Good (around 70%).
“We are proceeding through our inspection plan for this year and will continue to report on the quality of care as we find it.”