MORE than half of residential care homes across the north west inspected by the Care Quality Commission over the 12 month-period to December 1 2022 were found to be ‘failing’, according to the Independent Care Inspections group.

During this period, 361 residential care homes in the region were inspected by the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

The research showed that, in the period covered 197 care homes were ‘failing’ ie rated as Inadequate or Requires Improvement which is 54.6 per cent.

Just two homes in the region were rated as Outstanding.

CQC defines residential social care as care home services with nursing, care home services without nursing and specialist college services.

The figures were compiled using publicly available information and analysed by Independent Care Inspections, which is the UK’s first and only independent registered inspection body.

Kevin Groombridge, chief executive of Independent Care Inspections, said: “These figures show that the quality of residential care homes in the North West of England has some way to go.

“This news will be worrying for the family and friends of care home residents, but it should also be reassuring to know that the Care Quality Commission is doing its job by identifying underperforming homes.

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“Receiving a rating of Requires Improvement or Inadequate should be a wakeup call for the operators of these care homes that things need to change rapidly.

“Delivering Outstanding residential care is rooted in having the discipline to follow best practice, policy and procedures, with continued audits to ensure that high levels of care are maintained."

The North West has seen the biggest increase in residential and nursing care fees with a 69 per cent upsurge in residential care fees and a 41 per cent increase in nursing fees over the past five years.

The region has seen average residential costs rise from £590 to £999 and nursing costs rise from £809 to £1,144 between 2017-2022 according to the latest figures from TrustedCare.

The Liberal Democrats have proposed raising the minimum wage for carers by £2 to help reduce ‘chronic’ staff shortages and help ease the pressure on social care.

The Department of Health and Social Care, which is responsible for health policy in England, said most paid carers were employed by private companies, who were responsible for setting pay but added that the minimum wage is set to rise to £10.42 for over 23s in April.