Home Reports The Arrival of the Second Report in Care England and Cornerstone’s New Report Series to Address Care Home Challenges

The Arrival of the Second Report in Care England and Cornerstone’s New Report Series to Address Care Home Challenges

by Kirsty Kirsty

As financial pressures mount and regulatory demands grow, care providers face an increasingly fragile operating environment. Workforce shortages, rising costs, including changes to Employers’ National Insurance Contributions, and the ever-evolving compliance landscape are stretching the adult social care sector to its limits.

Against this backdrop, Care England has commissioned Cornerstone Care Solutions to produce a series of reports under the Restructuring Social Care Services initiative. This series examines the underlying causes of care home failures and presents proactive strategies to ensure long-term sustainability.
The latest report in the series, Identifying and Addressing Failing Care: A Guide for Care Home Professionals, explores how clinical and financial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can serve as critical early warning signs, helping providers identify emerging risks before they escalate. By closely monitoring trends such as infection rates, occupancy levels, and financial performance, care home leaders can intervene swiftly to prevent small challenges from becoming systemic failures.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, commented:
“Care providers are operating under relentless financial and workforce pressures, and the margin for error is vanishingly small. Without a clear view of the warning signs, services can quickly become unsustainable, putting both residents and staff at risk. This report highlights the importance of tracking clinical and financial KPIs, not as a bureaucratic exercise, but as a crucial safeguard for quality care. The ability to spot issues early, whether it’s a rise in falls, a drop in occupancy, or creeping financial instability, can make all the difference between survival and closure. In such a challenging climate, we need to move away from reactive firefighting and towards a smarter, more strategic approach to running care services.”

This second report builds on the first in the Restructuring Social Care Services series, which examined financial viability, workforce stability, and operational efficiency. Now, the focus shifts to embedding a culture of continuous improvement through data-driven decision-making.

To explore these findings further, Care England will host a webinar on 4 March 2025, offering practical guidance on using KPIs to safeguard care homes. To register, click here.

The full report, Identifying and Addressing Failing Care: A Guide for Care Home Professionals, is available here

Image depicts Care England logo

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