On 3rd September 2014, the findings of the Commission on Residential Care (CORC) were published. The year-long Commission was hosted by the leading thinktank, Demos, and chaired by Paul Burstow, Liberal Democrat MP for Sutton and Cheam, who from May 2010 until 2012 was the Minister of State for care services The commission brought together academics, industry experts and providers to explore the future of the ‘housing with care’ sector – covering everything from care homes, villages and supported living for older and disabled people.
Paul Burstow gave a keynote speech at the event in central London, which formed the basis of his article in The Guardian on the following day. He stated:
“More than 450,000 older and disabled people currently live in residential care. Medical advances and longer lifespans mean the need for this will grow, not diminish.
During my time as care minister I saw that acts of hospitality, kindness and great care are commonplace throughout the care sector. But that truth is drowned out by stories of shocking abuse.
The residential care of the future has to change from a feared last resort to a valued, life-changing step that many of us contemplate, and plan for.
That is why I’ve spent 12 months working with the thinktank Demos, leading a commission of experts to review the evidence and formulate a vision for the future of residential care.Our wide-ranging recommendations, published today, are at their heart about people, those who need care and support, and those who work in the sector. The Care Act 2014 was a bold first step, but the sector needs to work hard to make the Act’s wellbeing duty a reality. Residential care is associated with loss of independence and neglect. We need a rebrand that reinvents it as a continuum of housing with care options.
This is why we propose separating decisions about where we live from what care and support we need. This distinction is already made in extra-care housing and supported living schemes. Separating the “where” from the “what” has big implications for regulation and inspection, placing the “what” at the heart of inspection.
We also propose that the costs of care, accommodation and services, such as gardening and upkeep of communal areas, are separate, as they are in the Netherlands and many other parts of Europe. Both the housing choice and the care and support choice need to be personalised, but bundling them into one take-it-or-leave-it decision is one reason residential care is seen as a last resort.
We all expect to have some choice and control over our home. It is wrong that a frail or disabled person should have less security. Introducing tenancy rights in care homes would give residents the chance of shared ownership and decision-making powers over communal areas.
Around the world we have seen great examples of how residential care can reinvent itself. In all the visits the commission made, we found hospitality and fun, support of self-determination and encouragement of self-reliance, and a sense of community between residents, staff and families. De Hogeweyk in the Netherlands, and the Whitely retirement village in Surrey are just two examples .
Residential care will not shake off its negative image while care work is seen as a low-wage, low-skill, and high-turnover job. Pay must rise – the living wage should be the goal – as well as more career opportunities and a minimum level of training, with independently accredited certification.
Our fear is that housing with care will become increasingly polarised between those who can buy their way into a better service and those who will be condemned to a life-limiting experience in poor-quality accommodation, staffed by the lowest paid and least qualified.There must be a new settlement based on a fair funding formula and a long-term review of the demand for and cost of providing housing with care. The commission’s recommendations set a formidable challenge. Only bold answers will ensure housing with care is the future.”
See also:
Guardian article: Residential care must reinvent itself so it is no longer seen as a last resort
Demos webpage on final CORC report with link to free download of report as PDF file
The response of the Care Quality Commission to the CORC report *
* 
Andrea Sutcliffe, CQC’s Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, commented “I welcome the Commission’s report which shines a spotlight on the often neglected world of residential care. It’s great to see a report which emphasises the positive impact residential care can have on people’s lives and it provides a helpful focus on how all of us can influence the improvement of care and services for older people and people with disabilities so that they can be the best they can be.”