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CARINGNEWS
Call for star rating search tool to be removed from site By Dominic Musgrave Prime Minister David Cameron with Madley Park resident Eveline Oldroyd, who has just celebrated her 100th birthday.
David pays residents a surprise call PRIME Minister David Cameron surprised residents at a care home in his Witney constituency by dropping in for a cup of tea and a chat. He also thanked them for the congratulations cards they made and sent him following the recent General Election. David also visited Madley Park’s ‘beach’ – an area of the garden complete with sand, red umbrella and deck-chairs.
THE tool for searching care homes via star ratings should be immediately removed from the inspectorate’s website, it has been claimed. Ian Hudson, managing director, at Colten Care says every home inspected since the demise of the system earlier in the year is being penalised as they no longer appear in search results. And he told Caring UK it could have dire financial consequences for independent home owners looking to fill their empty beds, who may be unaware of the situation. He added: “We had to reregister all of our homes due to a change in our business structure, and five of them which previously had three stars will not now appear in a search of ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ ones because, even though it has maintained this standard, ratings are no longer being allocated. This is the case for all homes that have been inspected since the CQC took this decision, which leaves them hugely disadvantaged. “Homes will continue to be listed as ‘not yet rated’ despite them being inspected. It could have dire consequences for those independent home owners looking to fill
their empty beds.” Ian says the company restructured its business due to the collapse of the banking system a couple of years ago, separating several of its homes into a new subsidiary business but remaining under the Colten Care banner. He added: “We were told by CSCI that it was just a paper exercise that could be done on a local level, but it ended up getting confused and being sent to their offices in Newcastle. “We were then told by the CQC that the homes affected would be regulated as if it was a new service, and the star rating would be cancelled as the new registration process wasn’t coming until October. “When I spoke to somebody at the CQC they told me that is what it says in the legislation and there is nothing they can do about it. “Clearly nobody has thought about it and they are only interested in implementing the letter of the law.” He added that the company’s solicitor has written to the inspectorate, but has not received a response. “It is the kind of organisation that doesn’t see common sense so we are just going to have to live with it, but this should never have happened,” said Ian.
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