Sue Cook on why the institutionalised care home system is broken

Among many of the tragic deaths that came as a result of Covid, one thing that was highlighted by the pure number of deaths that occurred, was that, despite the best efforts of the committed staff in the homes, there are failings in the care home system itself. To date the UK has seen more than 127,500 deaths as a result of Covid-19, with those in care homes three times as likely to die of covid than the prevailing rate of people of a similar age in the community. Today, an even more shocking expose has been released which highlights key discrepancies in the care of those elderly residents who are in care homes in comparison to those who aren’t.

The new research which is compiled based on an extensive secret shopper survey of staff of more than 1000 care homes, combined with research from The Live-In Care Hub, identified that there are some clear health and safety hazards within care homes. The data has revealed that those in institutionalised care are almost twice as likely to suffer a hip fracture when compared to those being cared for by a live-in carer (3.2% chance of a fall in a Care or Nursing Home compared to 1.7% with a live-in carer ).

Aston spoke to TV presenter Sue Cook and Peter Seldon, CEO of Consultus Care.