Council removed residents from seven care homes in last five years

Essex County Council removed all of its residents from seven care homes in the past five years because of safety and welfare concerns, it has emerged.

The details were published following a BBC Freedom of Information request to the county council.

Some of reasons for the decisions involved patient neglect and the condition of buildings. Figures also show the council temporarily barred 78 other homes from taking on its tenants over the period.

The authority, which has contracts with 517 care homes, said deciding to remove residents was never taken lightly.

Speaking to the BBC, Anne Brown, Conservative cabinet member for adult social care, said: “We are not going in there inspecting these homes, we leave that to the CQC, but as soon as anything is pointed out to us we send in our safe team and we spend a lot of time helping the management.

“We do support these homes, but we are trying to bring the bad homes up to scratch so the care provided to the residents is at a very good standard.”