The Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland, Eddie Lynch, has called for stronger protection for residents from being removed from care homes without good reason.

In a new report, Lynch said the Regional Care Home Contract between Health and Social Care Trusts and care home providers was failing to protect residents from being evicted to another care home for reasons other than a change of care needs.

Lynch said: “For some time, I have been concerned by reports that clauses in the Regional Care Home Contract are being improperly used by care home providers. A series of complaints from older people, their families and friends led me to track occurrences where the contract’s conditions for terminating a residency in a care home were misused. On occasion, it is being used as a means of evicting residents who are complaining about the level of service they receive, or whose family is seen as difficult or undesirable.”

There are currently 15,837 registered residential and nursing care beds in care homes in Northern Ireland, 93% of these places are provided by the private sector. The trusts spend approximately £582 million of public money annually in the commissioning of residential and nursing care placements from independent care providers, mainly for older people. 

The report makes several recommendations to ensure the rights of residents are placed at the heart of the care home contract, including:

• Amending the contract to embed a culture of human rights in care homes.  
• Making explicit the residential protections available to residents of care homes. 
• Clarity on reasons for compulsory transfer to avoid abuse of the system. 
• An independent appeals process with advocacy support for residents. 

The commissioner added: “Care homes currently hold all the power about residents’ security.  In the cases brought to my office, there is simply not enough due process to protect the rights of an older person in care. Residents in care homes are less protected in terms of security of tenure than a person in a private tenancy arrangement (outside of a care home) is.

“Thankfully the majority of older people are secure in their care homes, receiving quality care, but the current system is open to misuse and the Department of Health needs to improve the contract to ensure all residents are treated with dignity and respect in the place they consider their home.”

Helen Wildbore, director of Care Rights UK, said: “We applaud the commissioner for taking a lead on this important issue. Week in, week out we hear from people who are too afraid to raise concerns about their care due to fear of reprisals like eviction.

“Being told you must leave your home can have a devastating impact on health and wellbeing, especially for those nearing the end of their lives. It can leave people – and their families – feeling powerless, causing distress, anxiety and trauma. This report must be a catalyst for change, in Northern Ireland but also across the UK, to ensure people needing care are treated with dignity and respect.”

Health minister Robin Swann welcomed the commissioner’s report, adding its recommendations would be considered by the Social Care Collaborative Forum, which was established by the Department of Health to deliver improvements to the sector.

Swann said: “I fully acknowledge that when people move from their household to residential or nursing care it involves a move from one ‘home’ to another. It is vital therefore that services commissioned to provide older people with accommodation, support and care must have in place arrangements that protect both citizen and consumer rights.”