Care home companies ‘leaving Yorkshire for more lucrative South’

The warning was made by Andrew Balchin, the officer in charge of social care at Wakefield Council, who said some providers are no longer doing business in the north because customers cannot pay as much as those elsewhere.

It comes as local authorities face increasing pressure on their social care services for the elderly, with charities warning that action is urgently needed to ensure there are enough residential care places.

Wakefield Council itself has seen a nine per cent year-on-year rise in demand for its help, latest figures show.

And care homes themselves are struggling to staff their homes appropriately because of a shortage of registered nurses, said Mr Balchin, the authority’s corporate director for adults and health.

Over the last year, at least 10 residential venues and homecare providers in the Wakefield district have been placed in special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) over concerns their residents are not safe.

In some cases this has led to homes closing down when they have been unable to deliver quick improvements, while others have shut down their service for financial reasons.

Mr Balchin told Wakefield Council’s audit committee: “The picture nationally is one of change and some of that is because providers are making a judgment that they’re no longer able to provide a type of care.

“We are seeing a reduction in the number of care places available in the district and in the region.

“The largest factor is the inability to attract qualified nursing staff.

“It’s less about the money than about the national picture around nursing vacancies.

“We’re also seeing an increase in some providers withdrawing from residential care.

“That’s been primarily some of the big national companies, who’ve decided to concentrate their operations on southern parts of the country where they can charge substantially more for care home places.

“The economics of the care home market has meant more of a focus on the more lucrative parts of southern England than on the north, where people are less able to pay the rates that can be charged elsewhere.”

Despite the falling number of places available, demand in Wakefield for residential care homes has remained “stable”, councillors were told.

Mr Balchin also said care providers were facing “uncertainty” as a result of the government repeatedly delaying a green paper the future of social care funding.

He added: “It was anticipated that that would be looking at the balance between local authorities and central government, and how much is contributed by an individual towards the cost of their own care.

“While that uncertainty remains the market will be quite fragile.”

Age UK has warned that cuts to local authority budgets have led to a “postcode lottery” in care provision and increasing pressure on unpaid carers.

Age UK’s Caroline Abrahams said: “The rise in our ageing population is not being matched by a similar increase in care home beds, and this means there’s a big risk that older people in need get left high and dry.

“Since older people in search of residential care are typically far from well and coping with conditions like dementia.

“The idea that there might literally be no care home place available for them does not bear thinking about.

“This is a recipe for unhappiness and anxiety for many vulnerable older people and their families.”

A spokesperson for the Government’s Department of Health and Social Care said: “We have given local authorities access to up to £3.9bn more dedicated funding for adult social care this year, and a further £410m is available for adults and children’s services.

“We will set out our plans to reform the social care system at the earliest opportunity to ensure it is sustainable for the future.”