Care home ratings 'may mislead'

LDDA - The Liberal Democrat Disability Association <info@disabilitylibdems.org.uk>

Care home ratings 'may mislead'

May 12, 2008 12:00 AM

"Treating older people in care homes with respect is not an optional extra" Gordon Lishman, Age Concern

New star ratings for care homes in England have been criticised for giving a misleading impression. The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) gave 70% of providers a three star (excellent) or two star (good) rating. But the charity Age Concern says many homes may have been given a one star (adequate) undeservedly. Its research, found cases in which inspections had failed to establish if residents were treated respectfully.

The star ratings are based on provisional assessments of 18,545 of England's 24,370 care providers, including care homes, nursing agencies and home care agencies. The CSCI gave three stars to 2,338 providers, two stars to 10,357, one star to 4,636 and no stars, indicating a poor performance, to 648. A number of other homes remain unrated either because they are newly registered, or they did not consent to their provisional rating being used for the star system. The CSCI argues that the ratings, alongside detailed inspection reports, give users and potential users of care services a comprehensive picture of the quality of care on offer.

Report survey

But Age Concern said a survey of 50 reports on one star homes inspected in 2007-08 found more than half had either not been assessed on whether they treated residents with respect, or had recorded a failing score. The charity found a similar pattern when it checked the same reports to see whether residents were being given a reasonable degree of choice and control over their own lives.

Gordon Lishman, Age Concern director general, said: "Treating older people in care homes with respect is not an optional extra. A better description of the 'adequate' service provided by some 'one star' homes would be 'unacceptable'." Mr Lishman said people should read the whole report on any home they are interested in, rather than relying on the headline star rating. He said a care home had only to be rated as adequate in half of the 38 CSCI indicators to be granted an overall rating of one star, provided it passed in several key categories.

John Fraser, CSCI's Business Director for Quality, Performance and Methods, said dignity and respect was always assessed during an inspection. However, when writing reports inspectors grouped a number of outcomes together to form their judgements, and dignity and respect might not always get a specific mention. "The rating given to a service is an overall guide to its quality. CSCI, like Age Concern, recommends that people looking for a care service should read the inspection report and visit the care home in question before choosing to live there."