Health needs unmet for many care home residents

7 Mar 12
More than half of older people in residential care homes do not have access to all the NHS services they require, the Care Quality Commission revealed today.

By Richard Johnstone | 7 March 2012

More than half of older people in residential care homes do not have access to all the NHS services they require, the Care Quality Commission revealed today.

An inspection of services in 81 homes found that health provision was ‘too variable’, with some basic health needs going unmet for 57% of older residents.

This was because primary care trusts did not give sufficient priority to care home residents when planning local health care services, according to the report Health care in care homes.

For example, in almost 40% of homes, people who needed an initial continence assessment had to wait more than two weeks, with a clear impact on their welfare.

A survey of staff also found that only 38% of care homes were able to indicate whether GPs made routine visits, while 35% reported they ‘sometimes’ had problems getting medicines to residents on time.

However, the review found good practice in areas such as care planning, with 77% of homes taking individual’s views into account. Almost all (96%) were good at identifying the changing health care needs of residents through informal or responsive monitoring.

Amanda Sherlock, director of operations at the CQC, said that the small number of inspections had helped determine what would be looked at in forthcoming reviews into dignity and nutrition.

She added: ‘While we have identified good practice in areas, this review suggests some providers have fallen short of delivering effective care by considering the health care needs of residents as a secondary requirement.

‘All staff and relevant agencies, including the emerging commissioning cluster groups, have a role in improving the quality of and access to healthcare services for care home residents. This is a responsibility which needs to be taken seriously.’

The information gathered by the CQC was analysed by the British Geriatrics Society, which represents doctors specialising in geriatric medicine.

Finbarr Martin, president of the society, called on the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to consider the creation of quality standards for health care in care homes.

Martin added: ‘We have analysed [the data] in regard to the provision of NHS services for the 400,000 older residents in care homes in England and we are developing a series of materials and case studies to help commissioners to develop appropriate integrated services.’

The care homes inspected, which included those for people with learning disabilities, were in areas where the local NHS primary care trust had previously been considered to be at risk of poor performance. These were: Birmingham East and North; Greenwich; Luton; Northeast Essex; Nottinghamshire County; South Tyneside; Southwark; and Warrington.

 

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