Alert as nearly one in 10 dementia care homes is given worst rating 

Dementia patients face a new care crisis with almost one in ten residential homes inspected this year given the worst rating.

This was more than four times the rate in 2019, an analysis of reports from the care watchdog reveals.

And more than half of residential homes in England inspected this year were rated inadequate – the worst rating – or in need of improvement, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found.

Fewer than one in three homes offering dementia support were rated this bad before the pandemic.

Only 11 care homes offering dementia support were rated ‘outstanding’ in the first 11 months of 2022, an investigation by The Guardian found [File photo]

Newly uncovered failings in previously ‘good’ homes include residents left in beds ‘for months’, pain medicine not being administered, violence between residents and malnutrition – including one person who did not eat for a month.

Inspectors also found some residents’ dressings went unchanged for 20 days, ‘revolting’ carpets, ‘unexplained wounds’ and equipment ‘encrusted with dirt’.

The Mail’s End the Dementia Care Scandal campaign has been calling on the Government to improve funding for dementia care. Only 11 care homes offering dementia support were rated ‘outstanding’ in the first 11 months of 2022, an investigation by The Guardian found.

Some 880 were ‘good’, 762 ‘require improvement’ and 160 were ‘inadequate’, with many branded ‘not safe’. The proportion of dementia care homes that were branded inadequate by the CQC more than quadrupled from 2 per cent to 9 per cent between 2019 and 2022, while the number found to be good or outstanding fell from 71 per cent to 49 per cent.

Dementia patients face a new care crisis with almost one in ten residential homes inspected this year given the worst rating [File photo] 

Since Covid, inspectors have been increasingly carrying out inspections when concerns have been raised. The CQC said this may account for an increase in the worst ratings. The Relatives and Residents Association, which operates a national helpline, said ‘these horrific statistics sadly echo what we hear’. Director Helen Wildbore said: ‘This national crisis is happening behind closed doors but in plain view of those with the power and duty to protect the rights of people placed in the most vulnerable of positions.’

According to a recent inspection report, in a Derbyshire home pain medicine ran out, inhalers went uncleaned and one resident fell from their bed or chair 12 times in four weeks.

Almost one million people in the UK are living with dementia. Residential dementia care is largely provided by private companies. Industry leaders say the sector is severely short of funding, has too few staff with one in ten posts vacant, and cannot afford to match the salaries of supermarkets and pubs.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it wants ‘a society where every person with dementia, their families and carers receive high-quality, compassionate care, from diagnosis through to end of life’. A spokesman said the Government has provided additional funding to tackle dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses.