Letter to Baroness Young CQC
11th of August 2009
Dear Baroness Young,
I came across issues of concern whilst looking at inspection reports recently and thought that perhaps they were isolated incidents until I examined more of your inspection reports.
I took a random selection of reports and found the following,
Care Homes Stockport 73.
Homes inspected by CQC 7
Homes with grade unchanged. 4
Homes downgraded. 0
Homes given better grade 3
I looked at a larger area to see if this was evident.
Residential care homes in greater London 184.
Homes inspected by CQC 13
Homes with grade unchanged 3
Homes downgraded 0
Homes given better grade 11
Residential care homes Southeast randomly checked 420.
Homes inspected by CQC 58
Homes with grade unchanged 33
Homes downgraded 2
Homes given better grade 23
My concern is that many care homes with a history of poor care have after years of persistent negligence suddenly found themselves upgraded, in some cases drastically in a matter of weeks.
Example
A care home with a zero rating 12 weeks ago is now given 2 stars.
A care home that has jumped from barely adequate care now being rated as 3 star excellent.
When you consider that bad homes have been bad homes for years and suddenly overnight they have turned to good homes, quite frankly it is simply not credible.
The most common finding is one star homes are suddenly given an unexplained 2 star rating, this means they may not be inspected again for years, resulting in massive savings in your budget. Who is protecting the residents in these homes?
To date you have only inspected a very small percentage of homes but if you continue to upgrade nearly half of all homes then the result can only be suffering for those vulnerable people who rely on your inspections.
Please note that this charity is watching your actions very closely and if you continue to take the see no evil route we will continue to expose the silent suffering.
Yours Sincerely Eileen Chubb