Last week marked the opening of the Orangery, a state of the art apartment block in Sidley for the over 60s with care facilities for those who need it in their advancing years. Residents who part-buy, or rent, live independently but can purchase more care as the years progress. The residents can have meals together in a restaurant which is also open to the public. There is even an on-site hair salon and a car park for mobility scooters.

This new development, delivered by Amicus Horizon, with the help of Rother District Council and East Sussex County Council, is an example of the amazing space which can be created to help those in retirement. It is space we badly need. Bexhill has more over 85 year olds per head of population than any other part of the UK. The Bexhill and Battle constituency has one of the highest rates of over 65 year olds. It is essential that the community pulls out all of the stops to deliver care and dignity for those in their advanced years.

It is therefore a cause of great concern that, of the 35 care homes in Bexhill and Battle that have been inspected under CQC’s new inspection methodology this year, none have been rated as 'outstanding' by the Care Quality Commission ('CQC') inspectorate and only 9 have been rated as 'good'. The remaining are rated as 'requires improvement' or are 'inadequate'. These classifications are the same as given to our schools. If our schools were found to perform in the same manner there would be an outcry. As many residents in care homes may not be able to voice their concerns, we need to be their advocate and demand better.

Last week I met with the CQC leads for the South East to find out why our local performance is so poor. It seems that the region performs much worse than the rest of the country but East Sussex is particularly poor in comparison. I was told that much of the reason lies in the design of many care home buildings that are not easily able to adapt from traditional residential homes for the elderly into modern care facilities. With more people able to utilise technology to stay in their own homes, care homes now take more people later in life who have more complex health and mobility needs. I was also concerned to learn that there are care homes that do not have the ability to evacuate residents in an emergency, many are not keeping their residents active and engaged and, in some homes, the practice of residents sharing bedrooms with strangers is still in existence. Staff shortages are a problem due to our relatively low unemployment rate.

Despite the Government injecting billions in to the system, and the added rigour given to CQC inspections, there is still much work to be done. Many of our care home owners work incredibly hard to look after their residents but are struggling to meet the new requirements and fund required improvements.

If a care home is rated as 'inadequate' it is given six months to turn performance around or the CQC can close it down. Some have already been shut in our area or have decided to close. The CQC makes no apology for its rigorous inspection standards and quite rightly. We all want to be assured that our loved ones who need full-time residential care are well looked after and experience a good quality of life tailored to their individual needs.

I wanted to show the CQC team that this part of East Sussex can deliver outstanding and innovative care so I moved our meeting to the Orangery so the CQC could see for themselves. The adage goes that the mark of a civilised society is how it treats its elderly. We clearly have some way to go locally and I am determined to keep working with the CQC and our care home providers to ensure we get there.