Leeds care firm '˜nation's worst'
A Leeds care home operator has been ranked as the nation's worst in a survey which also reveals that half of England's big providers have at least one in four failing homes on their books.
Some of the country’s 54 large-scale providers of care for the over-65s had as many as half of their homes classed as failing by the official regulator, the consumer group Which? found.
It named the worst performer as Garforth-based Ideal Care Homes. The firm runs 16 facilities – 10 of which are classed by the Care Quality Commission as either inadequate or requiring improvement.
The company is part of the LNT Group, owned by Lawrence Tomlinson, a self-made multimillionaire who advised the Government following the bailout of Royal Bank of Scotland. The group is hosting a visit by Princess Anne next Thursday.
Its care homes, built by LNT’s sister construction company, are promoted as “offering aspirational lifestyles” to residents.
Which? said its nationwide analysis demonstrated “how deep problems with quality and choice run in the care system”.
At the top of its table was North Yorkshire County Council, which operates 13 homes in its area, all of which were rated good or outstanding.
Last year, the charity Independent Age named Wakefield among the areas in which older people and their families faced little choice of quality care, with nearly half of homes rated not good enough.
Ideal Care Homes said it was “deeply disappointed” with the ratings on its homes. Managing Director Paul Farmer said the firm had “identified a number areas of weakness” for which it had “ found solutions”. He added: “Aiming for ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ is our top priority and our frequent assessment of all our care homes demonstrates we are moving towards this.”