Councillors praise drop in older people leaving Hartlepool for care home places

Councillors have praised improvements in care homes for helping to reduce the number of elderly people leaving the town for care.
Rossmere Park Care Centre in Greenock Road, Hartlepool.Rossmere Park Care Centre in Greenock Road, Hartlepool.
Rossmere Park Care Centre in Greenock Road, Hartlepool.

It came after Hartlepool Borough Council bosses discussed the latest inspections from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which stated 12 care homes in the town have been rated as good, making up 75% of the total number.

The remaining four are rated as ‘requires improvement’ by the care watchdog and means none received the top rating of ‘outstanding’ or the lowest rating of ‘inadequate’.

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Councillors said the improvement of care home facilities in the town has led to a reduced number of people leaving the borough for care, boosted by the opening of Rossmere Park Care Centre and De Bruce Court in recent years.

Council out of borough placements for older people have dropped to 12 for 2018/19, compared to 51 in 2016/17.

Coun Sue Little, speaking at the adult and community based services committee, thanked staff involved in the adult services team for their work.

She said: “I’d like to congratulate the team, a few years ago one of the reasons I was coming to this committee was because a lot of older people had nowhere to go and were going out of town.

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“Thank you so much for you and your team bringing two providers back into the town and helping people like our older generation.”

Coun Stephen Thomas, chair of the committee, also praised the drop in people leaving the borough for care.

He said: “I think that it’s a fantastic achievement to get that level of reduction.

“We’re now down to that sort of level where it is individual choice which is leading to people to move to different areas, and we’re a long way from that situation we were in two or three years ago.

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“I think it’s a very positive and improving picture in regards to care provision. Things can change very very quickly in this particular area but I think we are making a lot of progress in the right direction.”

The CQC ratings mark an improvement from the last update six months ago and since then three homes have been upgraded from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ and one care home has dropped from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’.

Council bosses are also targeting further improvements within care homes with a ‘Delivering Outstanding Care’ event held in January 2019 for care home managers.

This included presentations by CQC bosses and the registered manager of Jack Dormand Care Home in Horden which is rated ‘outstanding’.

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Hartlepool care homes rated ‘Good’ by the CQC with its latest ratings: Brierton Lodge, Stichell House, Dinsdale Lodge, Elwick Grange, Sheraton Court, Seaton Hall, Gretton Court, Rossmere Park, Lindisfarne, Queens Meadow, Charlotte Grange, Clifton House.

Hartlepool care homes rated ‘Requires Improvement’ by the CQC in its latest ratings: Wynyard Woods, Warrior Park, West View Lodge, De Bruce Court.

Nic Marko , Local Democracy Reporting Service