One In Five Care Homes Fail Hygiene Standards

A fifth of private care homes in Norfolk are failing to meet hygiene standards, prompting calls for the Government to ensure standards are improved. Although improvements have been made to hygiene and infection control standards at care homes, there are still 337 in the East of England which have failed to make the grade.

This has prompted North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb to call on the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), which carries out the inspections, to be tougher with those that fail.

He said: “This demonstrates that the majority of care homes are meeting the standard, but there is still a sizeable minority who are not. It is not acceptable to have people in care homes which are not of the highest standard.

“The responsibility rests with the commission to demand higher standards and to have a zero tolerance approach. We are talking about some of the most vulnerable groups in society and they should be treated with dignity. Although the situation has improved, it is still at an unacceptable level.”

The figures, which show how many care homes did not comply with minimum infection control standards in March 2006, were obtained by Mr Lamb in Parliament.

They show improvements are being made, with 24.4pc of care homes in the East failing to make the grade in 2005 as opposed to 28.3pc in 2004. During hygiene and infection control inspections care homes are tested to ensure that the premises are kept clean, hygienic and free from offensive odours throughout and systems are in place to control the spread of infection.

Norwyn Cole, CSCI’s business relationships manager said that often care homes that failed to meet the required standard were not failing across the board, but only in one or two minor areas.

He said: “The majority will have met most of the requirements, but not all of them. If they were significantly failing to meet the standards we would have done something about it. Generally, the standards in care homes are very high.”

Last November, the Evening News reported that four Norfolk care homes were set to be shut down for failing to meet required standards.

The CSCI said it had been scrutinising 23 troubled homes in the county since April 2006 amid fears of neglect, low staffing levels, mismanagement, medication errors and administration problems. The CSCI is currently going through the legal process of shutting the four homes, whose names have never been revealed, but it could be up to nine months before it is complete.