BOLTON is helping to improve the standard of care for elderly people in residential homes across Greater Manchester as it emerged that six authorities in the region are among the 20 worst in the country for the number of care homes in need of improvement or graded inadequate.

The shocking figures were released as Greater Manchester celebrated becoming the first age-friendly city region in the country today 

In Bolton one in ten care homes does not meet the standard expected.

Independent Age's report Care Home Performance Across England is based on Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections of care homes.

Six out of the ten local authorities which make up Greater Manchester — Tameside, Manchester, Stockport, Salford, Oldham and Trafford — are among the 20 worst authorities in the country for the numbers of care homes which fail to meet at least a good standard.

The report was published as Greater Manchester was recognised by the World Health Organisation as age-friendly.

Bolton was number one in Greater Manchester for having the highest numbers of good and outstanding care homes — last year it had 21.3 per cent of homes which were not up to standard. That figure now stands at 10 per cent.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: "We are pleased that 90 per cent of care homes in Bolton are now rated as good or outstanding by the Care Quality Commission.

"Our figures are the best in Greater Manchester and the third best in the whole of the North West.

“As part of the council’s care home excellence programme, we have been working closely with the NHS and the owners of care homes in the borough to improve their quality and make sure they are up to standard.

“Bolton, with a proven track record in improving care homes, is also helping authorities across Greater Manchester and the rate of improvement in Greater Manchester is now twice as fast as the rest of England.

“This means that 1,580 people who last year lived in care homes rated as inadequate or requires improvement, are now in care home rated as good or better.

“We take the care of our residents seriously and we aspire for excellence in all our care homes. We will continue to work hard to achieve this."

John Rouse, Chief Officer for Greater Manchester Health and Social Care (GMSC) Partnership said care home quality is improving.

He said: "There is no doubt that the scale of improvement across our Care Homes is a challenge for Greater Manchester however we can also see that care home quality is improving.

"Back in January 2017, only 50 per cent of Care Home Beds were in the CQC ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ categories.

"This had increased to 60 per cent in December 17.

"This means that 1,580 more Care Home beds are ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’ compared to 12 months ago, still nowhere near good enough but signs are that devolution is having an impact.

"In the North West ADASS report, when analysing all 151 Local Authorities in the country, 5 of the top 15 most improved in 2017 are in Greater Manchester. In addition Care Home quality in Greater Manchester is improving, and at a faster rate than the national average and more than any other sub-region in the North West.

“Working with the Care Homes sector the GMHSC Partnership are supporting significant changes to ensure the quality of residential and nursing care homes continues to improve, with better access to health care in care homes, developing new ways of working for example the ‘teaching care homes model’, establishing a quality framework, and identification of best practice in care homes, as part of the wider adult social care transformation programme in Greater Manchester."