'˜Crisis among failing care homes'

The figures emerged as county councils warned that an “unprecedented” boom in the elderly population across rural England was pushing local services to breaking point. North Yorkshire was said to have seen the nation’s fourth highest increase.

The consumer group Which? found that some of the country’s 54 large-scale providers of care for the over-65s had as many as half of their homes classed as failing by the government regulator.

The worst performer, Leeds-based Ideal Care Homes, runs 16 facilities across the North and Midlands – 10 of which are classed by the Care Quality Commission as either inadequate or requiring improvement.

The company is part of the LNT Group, owned by Lawrence Tomlinson, a self-made multimillionaire who advised the Government following the bailout of Royal Bank of Scotland. The group is hosting a visit by Princess Anne next Thursday.

Which? said its analysis demonstrated “how deep problems with quality and choice run in the care system”.

The top performer on its table was North Yorkshire County Council, which operates 13 homes in its area, all of which were rated “good” or “outstanding”.

But the county also emerged yesterday as one of the rural regions most affected by a 500,000 increase in the number of elderly residents in the space of three years – prompting council leaders to warn that “outdated” government funding was creating unsustainable pressure on local services.

The County Councils Network, which represents all 37 county councils in England, said current funding practices did not take into account increases in the proportion of elderly residents – a figure that is now 11.7 per cent in North Yorkshire.

The Government, which will publish a long-awaited Green Paper on care for older people this summer, faced calls last night for “fundamental reforms” to a system “already close to breaking point”. Which? warned that the situation could deteriorate rapidly as demand for places began to outstrip supply in some areas.

Alex Hayman, the organisation’s managing director of public markets, said: “Too few providers are able to offer consistent, high quality care – limiting choice for stressed families in a system already close to breaking point. The Government must now ensure that its Green Paper delivers the fundamental reforms needed.”

Last year, the charity Independent Age placed Yorkshire as the second worst performing region in England for the proportion of satisfactory care homes.

The Care Quality Commission acknowledged that there was “significant variation in the quality of care across the country”.

A spokesman said: “While most adult social care services, including care homes, are rated good or better, around one in five is struggling to provide good, safe sustainable care.”

The Commission says around 80 per cent of “inadequate” homes improve their rating on re-inspection.

Ideal Care Homes said it was “deeply disappointed” with the ratings on its homes. Managing Director Paul Farmer said the firm had “identified a number areas of weakness” for which it had “ found solutions”. He added: “Aiming for ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ is our top priority and our frequent assessment of all our care homes demonstrates we are moving towards this.”