Press Room.
Care Homes with Weak Management Most at Risk of Closure and
Lender Scrutiny, Warns Grant Thornton
As new legislation forces all care homes to re-register under
new, more onerous regulatory standards, homes with weak management
will be most at risk of closure. Lenders will also be hawk-eyed
about monitoring their care clients' re-registration, warns leading
business and financial advisor, Grant Thornton UK LLP.
The Health and Social Care Act 2008 is set to go live for
private care operators on 1 October 2010 and requires all care
operators to re-register with The Care Quality Commission (CQC)
between April-October 2010 to ensure they can stay in business.
Grant Thornton's care sector specialist,
Daniel Smith, says: "Weak and inadequate management within care
homes are major factors damaging their performance. Homes with a
zero rating in particular, need to focus now on getting systems and
processes in place to be implemented by the right management team.
If they fail to do this, the chances of not meeting the
required minimum 'one star' increases significantly and will
inevitably lead to closure.
"In our experience, poor regulatory ratings often indicate
deeper and more fundamental business issues. As there is no
"automatic entry" from the old regulatory framework, lenders
will be monitoring their care clients' re-registration, especially
operators with current financial performance issues.
"The re-registration process will undoubtedly
raise the quality of English care homes and will be greeted
positively by the public. It also sends a very strong message to
all other operators that quality care practice and management must
be at the heart of their business, or they will suffer the
consequences from a far tougher regulator."
Care homes most at risk are operators of homes rated 'zero star'
by the CQC, each of which will be re-inspected in the coming
months. All homes are rated between zero (poor) and three
(excellent) by the CQC. Those failing to achieve a minimum CQC 'one
star' rating will face de-registration.
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ENDS-
For further information, please contact:
Stephanie Aneto, Grant Thornton Press Office: on 020 7728 2940 or
stephanie.aneto@gtuk.com