Care Home Residents Lacking NHS Services

The Care Quality Commission (“CQC”) recently undertook a review of care and nursing homes in order to look at how well the health needs of residents were being met. The review included interviewing or observing care being delivered to 386 residents across 81 homes, with a scope for considering GP services and pathways for continence care, NHS support through the direct provision of nursing services and training of staff.

With regards to services provided by GPs in care and nursing homes, only 53% of homes said that post-admission assessments for residents were provided and paid for by the primary care trust. 7% of homes said that post-admission assessments were provided by GPs but that they had to pay for them, and 33% said that no post-admission assessments were provided to residents at all. Similarly, only 44% of home managers indicated that GPs undertake regular, scheduled visits to their care home.
In terms of medication, approximately one third (35%) of homes reviewed indicated that there were ‘sometimes’ problems with getting medicines to residents on time. A similar proportion of residents (38%) did not feel that they were offered choices about how their continence needs are managed, and in many homes the views of relatives and carers were not taken into account in care plans.
Although the CQC did indicate that the sample size of this review is too small for results to be incorporated into national findings, it was noted that they illustrate the kind of problems care homes could be facing and that they will be of significant use in shaping the approach for delivering inspections in the future.
There are many advantages that come with providing elderly people with a personlised care service in the comfort of their own home versus a residential setting. However, whether people are being helped at home or in a care / nursing home, this vulnerable group is inevitably dependent on healthcare services and it is therefore vital that their health needs are met at all times.