Engage: Some care given was ‘so bad that it would make you cry’, outgoing CQC chief

England’s chief care inspector has warned of “shocking” failings over people in care homes.

Andrea Sutcliffe, the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) chief inspector of adult social care, said some care services had put patients at risk of “harm and potentially death”.

She also lambasted some services people receive at home, saying that the standard of care given to some frail, elderly or disabled people was so bad that it would make people “cry” if it was their own parent.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Ms Sutcliffe, who is stepping down from the role next month after five years, said: “In some of the services we have rated inadequate we have seen people not treated with dignity and respect in a way that would shock you … What is more shocking is where people have been exposed to levels of risk, which expose them to harm and potentially death.”

On home help agencies, she continued: “We’ve had examples of the final call of the day being missed, meaning someone is left in their chair alone overnight because they haven’t been put to bed.

“You would just want to cry if that was your mum or dad.

“Very often the people who are coming from a home care agency will be the only people that person sees.”

Ms Sutcliffe (pictured) added that services being provided in an “economically challenged environment”.

Figures from the newspaper suggest that enforcement action was recorded in 1,135 inspection reports of care homes and home help agencies last year.

It reported that up to 10,600 residents are living in care homes rated “inadequate”. Another 100,900 residents are in homes “requiring improvement”.

The Government is soon expected to publish a paper on the future of social care in the country.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care told the newspaper: “We are committed to ensuring adult social care in England is high-quality, safe and compassionate.

“To protect the public and hold providers to account, we set up the CQC and invested it with enforcement powers to crack down on poor quality care or abuse.”

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