Statistics provided by the CQC have shown prosecutions, cautions and fixed penalty notices, alongside a sharp rise in civil actions, have been taken against providers. There were a total of 781 cases in 2017/2018, but this rose to 906 in 2018/19.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said:
“The fact that the CQC felt the need to use their enforcement powers a lot more often last year than the year before is a worry, and given all we know about the pressures in the system it is hard to avoid the conclusion that this reflects an overall decline in care standards, as providers struggle to make ends meet and the temptation to cut corners in terms of quality and safety inexorably grows.”
CQC’s statistics also showed the number of serious injuries in care homes has almost doubled since 2011. There were 43,594 reports in 2018, compared to 23,709 seven years prior.
This news comes after Boris Johnson last week vowed to “fix the crisis in social care once and for all”.
