Failing standards at third of Black Country care homes revealed
Around a third of care homes in the Black Country are failing to meet standards expected by the health regulator, it can be revealed.
Seventy-eight care homes are rated as either 'requires improvement' or 'inadequate'.
Not one care home across the whole of the Black Country has the top rating of outstanding, data from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) showed.
Five have the worst-possible rating of inadequate, three of which are in Wolverhampton.
Walsall has the highest percentage of care homes needing improvement – 40 per cent.
Dudley is not far behind at 36 per cent.
But Wolverhampton has more inadequate homes than anywhere else.
Care homes inspected by the CQC and given one of four possible ratings ranging from outstanding to inadequate based on what they find.
In Wolverhampton, 19 homes were told they needed to do better at their last inspection, just over a quarter.
The homes with the lowest rating, according to the data, are Abbey Lodge Care Home in Tettenhall, Knoll House Care Home in Penn and Bearnett House, near Penn.
In the Dudley borough, 22 care homes have ratings of requires improvement. The Red House in Kingswinford is rated as inadequate.
In Walsall, 18 have the second-lowest rating of requires improvement. Crossways Residential Home in Highgate Road is the one home in Walsall rated as inadequate.
The data showed care homes in Sandwell were performing better than other parts of the Black Country, although there are still around a quarter – 19 – which have the requires improvement rating. The borough has none which are inadequate.
Councillor Diane Coughlan, who is head of social care at Walsall Council, said she believed it was positive that the ratings were being made available and the authority works with the CQC to try and support struggling care homes.
She said: "I don't see it as a negative. I see it as though we are identifying problems and working proactively to get them right.
"Across the country, care homes have suffered because of austerity and a massive lack of funding. It is not just in Walsall."
The findings come amid a row over social care funding. In recent weeks, the Government has been accused of not doing enough to make sure care for the elderly is properly funded.
