Cambridgeshire County Council cancels £64 million contract with HC-One after CQC slam Whittlesey care home

Cambridgeshire County Council has ripped up its contract with a private care home provider one home was forced to close after being slammed by inspectors.

The Council has told HC-One, a provider of health and social care, that they will no longer be contracted to provide care home beds under the terms of a ‘block contract’ - worth £64million over 15 years.

This follows the County Council calling in the Care Quality Commission (CQC), to investigate persistent concerns about quality of care at The Elms care home in Whittlesey, which last month led to their order to close the home.

The CQC inspection report detailed concerns regarding the standards of care at The Elms.

The ‘block contract’ arrangement involved a guaranteed payment in exchange for an agreed number of 99 beds across the company’s care homes. This cancellation also means that Cambridgeshire County Council will no longer refer new residents into HC-One's homes.

The County Council offered to buy the affected homes from HC-One, but this offer was rejected. The County Council has confirmed that this offer remains on the table.

New homes have been found for the 25 residents at The Elms. Social workers will now do this for residents at the Manor House care home near Ramsey, which HC-One have also decided to close.

MORE: Ramsey care home The Red House declared inadequate overall by health regulator and placed in ‘special measures’

The decision not to refer any new residents will affect HC-One’s remaining three care homes in Cambridgeshire - The Red House in Ramsey, The Cambridge in Chesterton and The Gables in Whittlesey.

Cambridgeshire County Councillor Richard Howitt, Chair of the Adults and Health Committee, said: “Our action reflects how deeply disappointed we are by the poor performance of HC-One regarding The Elms. We worked with the provider over a sustained period to improve the quality of care at The Elms.

“We acted quickly in calling in the regulator and now we are acting quickly to ensure the provider does not continue to benefit from a substantial sum of public money, which we believe can be better spent elsewhere.

“We have many other brilliant providers offering excellent care, so it is right that HC-One is held to account regarding its poor performance. It is the duty of the Council to act.