One in four Norfolk care providers 'not good enough'

A new report into the state of Norfolk's care market - including residential homes and home care - outlined how 26pc of providers were rated as inadequate or requiring improvement by national watchdogs or Norfolk County Council inspectors.

County councillors discussed the issue at a meeting at County Hall on Wednesday after long-standing concerns too many of the county's care providers are not up to scratch.

While the Conservative-run council does not directly run care homes, it supports the care market and places eligible people within homes.

There has been frustration at the council and among care home providers that resources at the Care Quality Commission, which carries out inspections, means such assessments have become less frequent.

The council's own social care team has been carrying out its own checks to produce what are known as PAMMS (provider assessment and market management solution) ratings - which are considered a more accurate representation of quality.

Norfolk County Council's County Hall headquarters (Image: Mike Page)

The adult social care and public health select committee found there had been improvements - with the number of homes and providers rated good or outstanding/excellent up from 69pc to 74pc.

But that means 26pc are still inadequate or require improvement, with councillors particularly concerned at a slight decline in the quality of homecare providers.

Stuart Clancy (Image: Supplied)

Conservative councillor Stuart Clancy said his own experience with a homecare provider had highlighted concerns.

He said: "We have good people at the coalface, but unfortunately, most of the failings are due to the management."

Ian Wake (Image: Norfolk County Council)

Ian Wake, the council's adult social care director, agreed. He said: "It almost always comes down to leadership within the providers. If we get that right, then the rest follows."

He said one of the issues was that there are too many homecare providers. He said: "We need, ultimately, fewer providers and longer-term strategic relationships with the high quality providers."

Brian Watkins, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at County Hall (Image: Liberal Democrats)

Brian Watkins, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said: "The results we have had here show there is a step in the right direction which is very encouraging.

"But clearly, we must not lose sight of the fact that there are still too many providers that do not appear to be up to scratch and who require improvement."