The Croft Achieves 'Good' CQC Rating Despite Ongoing Sector Pressures

The team at The Croft Residential Home are celebrating after their latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection resulted in a Good rating and a report which included only positive comments about the home.

This was a particular achievement when over 50% of the specialist dementia care homes inspected in England in 2022 were rated Requires Improvement or Inadequate. "We are very proud of the improvements made by the whole team over the last 18 months since our last inspection, which have resulted in a Good rating," stated Simon Spiller, co-owner and provider at The Croft.

Pressures on care homes offering dementia care are particularly acute, especially the continued impacts of the social care staffing crisis and chronic under-funding of dementia care. "It's very difficult to recruit staff with the aptitude and skill to care for people with dementia," explained Simon, adding that the manager has successfully retained and trained the experienced care team, resulting in improved dementia care standards recognised by the CQC.

Government under-funding of dementia care remains a significant concern. Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England, notes that "local authority funding is working out at just £4 an hour to provide 24-hour care, three meals a day, making sure people have their drug regime and managing challenging behaviour."

The proportion of care homes in England rated Inadequate by the CQC more than tripled from 2% to 9% between 2019 and 2022, while those rated Good or Outstanding fell from 71% to 49%. This decline appears linked to insufficient staffing and over-reliance on inexperienced agency staff unable to meet complex dementia care needs.

Simon concluded that The Croft has bucked the sector trend through strong management and team commitment, though relief depends on when the government's promised extra social care funding arrives.