Social Care News

Death rates in England's care homes may be monitored by CQC

The Care Quality Commission, England's health and social care regulator, is looking into how it could record death rates to pick up on poor care in nursing and care homes.

The move follows a BBC Panorama investigation 'Elderly Care: Condition Critical?' broadcast on Monday (June 17) which reported that some homes had not notified the authorities. Care homes are required to report to the CQC when a resident dies.

Reports said the CQC said it was now considering how to assess whether a high number of deaths at a care home would spark an investigation.

Brian Jarman, a professor at London's Imperial College who co-founded the health statistics and research service Doctor Foster, said he had analysed data from the social care system and found "considerable variation in nursing homes".

Professor Jarman told The Guardian: "You have to remember that this includes people with learning disabilities as well as the elderly. We are some way off having an indicator like standardised mortality rates that we have for hospitals but it can be done."

Jarman said he had met David Behan, the head of the CQC, to discuss the findings. A spokesman for the CQC said they were considering the data from Panorama and would be looking into how to record the statistics.

• Watch a clip from the BBC's Panorama programme Elderly Care: Condition Critical?
• Read the Guardian story about the CQC's plans to monitor care and nursing home death rates