EXPOSED: CARE HOME CRISIS PUTTING BRITAIN TO SHAME

'Colleagues who have worked in the care sector for 20 years have never seen it in such a bad state'

- Giles Sheldrick

THE appalling way Britain treats its most vulnerable and frail citizens in expensive care homes has been laid bare.

Devastating figures show residents languish within substandard and inadequate facilities at one in five sites.

Regulators blame the "increasing pressure" the £16billion-a-year sector is under but campaigners say life for many residents is grim as demand soars and care home fees rocket. Fresh figures reveal 2,781 homes - 20% of those inspected are now ranked either as inadequate or "requires improvement".

Helen Wildbore, director of the Care Rights UK charity, said: "These figures sadly reflect what we hear via our helpline day in, day out, about people facing substandard care. Colleagues who have worked in the care sector for 20 years have never seen it in such a bad state."

The crisis comes after years of promises to fix the broken social care sector. Last year the Care and Support Alliance of more than 60 leading charities demanded action amid concern that the drive for reform had stalled, leaving millions of older and disabled people and their families struggling to access the care they need and deserve.

Five years ago, on the steps of No10, the then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to "fix social care once and for all".

But campaigners said promised change failed to materialise, leaving the adult social care system a threadbare safety net. They added that many clients are not having their needs met while an undervalued, underpaid workforce shoulders an unimaginable burden and a forgotten army of family and friends act as unpaid carers.

Former Pensions Minister Baroness Ros Altmann said: "So many of our frail and vulnerable elderly people are living in residential care because they cannot manage.