The Quality of Care Report was created to discover which UK cities boast the best quality of care for later life. We were able to reveal these statistics by taking a seed list of 25 of the largest UK cities (judged by investment strength) and assessing the quality of care homes in each location. Aspects such as fees, nursing care, how many care homes there were in each city, the number of homes with excellent ratings, the homes that specialised in dementia care, and more, were considered to produce the final numbers within this report. We also spoke to Customer Success Lead and CQC expert, Mark Harrison, about his thoughts on how the CQC’s new framework is a positive change and best practices to improve the quality of care. Approaching your twilight years can be a daunting prospect for people for a number of reasons, bringing with it worries about health, money, and achieving goals you set for yourself when you were younger. However, one of the biggest concerns people have about entering later life is the possibility of going into a care home. There are many care home groups across the UK that boast an excellent reputation when it comes to the quality of care they offer, however, there is still a considerable number where improvements can be made when it comes to standards of practice.

1. THEUKCITIES
BOASTINGTHE
BESTQUALITY
OFCAREFOR
LATERLIFE
Research reveals the quality and costs of care
homes across the UK

2. SUMMARY OF REPORT
Approaching your twilight years can be a daunting prospect for people
for a number of reasons, bringing with it worries about health, money,
and achieving goals you set for yourself when you were younger.
However, one of the biggest concerns people have about entering
later life is the possibility of going into a care home.
There are many care home groups across the UK which boast
an excellent reputation when it comes to the quality of care
they offer, however there are still a significant number where
improvements can be made when it comes to standards of
practice.
With this in mind, The Quality of Care Report by the
experts at Radar Healthcare was created, to discover
which UK cities boast the best quality of care for later life.
We were able to reveal these statistics by taking a seed
list of 25 of the largest UK cities (judged by investment
strength) and assessing the quality of care homes in
each location.
Aspects such as fees, nursing care, how many care
homes were in each city, the number of homes
with excellent ratings, the homes that specialised
in dementia care, and more, were taken into
account in order to produce the final numbers
within this report. Keep reading to find out
more.
MAPPED: THE BEST CITIES IN THE UK
FOR CARE HOMES
First up, we analysed the best locations in the UK for care homes - and taking the top spot was Birmingham,
with a score of 72/100. This was achieved due to surprisingly low weekly fees of £597, allowing them to
score a staggering 19/20 in this section. With 197 care homes in the area overall, causing them almost to
obtain full marks with 9/10 in this category. Birmingham also had an impressive 145 care homes that were
rated either ‘good’ or above by the appropriate regulatory body, scoring them 9/10 in this section as well.
In second place was London, receiving 69.5/100 overall - a very similar score to the location in first place.
As London is renowned for being very expensive, it is no surprise that they received a fairly average 15.5/20
when it came to the finance category.

3. RADAR HEALTHCARE | UK QUALITY OF CARE REPORT
While their weekly costs
of £744 were not as high
as some of the other
cities, this still allowed
Birmingham to slip into first
place. Interestingly, London
scored full marks when it
came to the number of care
homes in the city, with a
whopping 421. However,
this could be due to
Birmingham having a lower
population density. London
also received full marks
(10/10) in regard to care
homes with ‘good’ or above
scores for care quality,
highlighting that finances
are the main areas that
need to be evaluated.
Up in third place was
Nottingham, with
an overall ranking of
67.5/100. This respectable
score was contributed to by
the city’s very reasonable
number of care homes
(172) which allowed them
to receive 8.5/10 in this
category. They were also
revealed to boast 119 care
homes with scores of ‘good’
or above for their quality
of care, leaving them with
8/10 for this section. 113 of
those homes specialise in
dementia care, which led to
a score of almost full marks
(9/10) for this segment.
CARE HOME COSTS: REVEALING THE
MOST AND LEAST COST-EFFECTIVE UK
CITIES
The weekly, monthly and annual fees for care homes differ greatly throughout the country. This is based on
all sorts of factors, such as the facilities available, the amenities, activities on offer (for example, does the care
home have a minibus for day trips?), the quality of the food provided, and much more.
With this in mind, we have broken down the average fees for care homes in each city we analysed, allowing us
to reveal the ones that are the most and least cost-effective. These numbers focus on the weekly, monthly and
yearly costs for care homes that do not provide nursing services.

4. TOP 5 MOST AFFORDABLE
The most cost-effective care homes in the UK, on average, were revealed to be situated in Manchester.
This was based on average weekly care home fees of £542, monthly fees of £2,168 and annual fees of
£26,016.
As the average salary in Manchester is around £37,284, fees of this kind are arguably very fair and realistic
- especially when taking into account double-income households and the pension of the person going into
the care home. In joint first place was Liverpool, which received exactly the same scores as Manchester.
The second-most cost-effective city for care homes was disclosed to be Newcastle, with weekly fees of
£574, monthly fees of £2,296 and annual fees of £27,552. As Newcastle only has 69 care homes overall,
the fees could be higher due to more demand and less room for people requiring care.
As Newcastle’s 2023 population was recorded to be a whopping 823,000, it is no wonder the city scored
a poultry 4.5/10 for this category. In joint-third place were Birmingham, Coventry and Stoke, all with
weekly average fees of £597, monthly fees of £2,388 and annual fees of £28,656.

5. RADAR HEALTHCARE | UK QUALITY OF CARE REPORT
TOP 5 LEAST
AFFORDABLE
At the other end of the spectrum, we were able to report the least cost-effective cities in the UK when it
came to care home fees. The most expensive care homes in the UK were revealed to be situated in Hull,
which had average weekly care home fees of £943, monthly fees of £3,771 and annual fees of £45,250.
With an almost £10,000 leap from the most cost-effective cities for care homes, it is no wonder that Hull
came in 18th place overall when it came to analysing the general quality of care for later life in the city.
In joint-second place were Sheffield, Bradford and Leeds, each with weekly fees of £810, monthly fees
of £3,240 and annual fees of £38,880. Despite falling flat when it came to finances, it is still interesting to
see the gap between the fees for care homes in Hull and those in Sheffield, Leeds and Bradford.
As the city of Hull has an annual average salary of only £17,799.96, fees are astronomical in comparison.
Hull also only received 5.5/10 when it came to care homes with ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ care quality
ratings, suggesting that there are improvements to be made when it comes to later-life care.
High staff turnover can be incremental to an organisation’s service and reputation. It can lead to lower
levels of patient satisfaction, increase the number of risks to both employees and service users, and make
meeting CQC (Care Quality Commission), Care Inspectorate (CI), and Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW)
standards even more challenging.
The care industry is extremely
valuable to our economy,
contributing over £50bn to the
UK economy and equating to
5% of all employment. It is vital
for the wellbeing of the
ever-growing and ageing
population that high turnover
rates are minimised. Perhaps,
this is the reason why we are
seeing such high care home
fees. If a care home is offering
the best quality of care they
will likely attract and retain
staf which is valuable for the
residents.

6. REVEALING THE AVERAGE COST OF
WEEKLY, MONTHLY, AND ANNUAL
PRIVATE NURSING CARE HOMES
ACROSS THE UK
Arguably, one of the most important aspects of care homes is knowing somebody with medical expertise is
on-hand in case anything should happen.
This is especially important when looking after people who are slightly older, as they are more prone to
injuries and illnesses. With this in mind, we took it upon ourselves to look into the most and least cost-effective
locations that had care facilities with nurses available.

7. TOP 5 MOST
AFFORDABLE
First up was Newcastle, hailed as the
most cost-effective city for nursing
homes, with weekly fees of £716 (on
average), monthly fees of £2,864 and
annual fees of £34,368.
It is unsurprising to see that the fees
are noticeably higher than those for
care homes without nurses, as medical
professionals will be able to perform
procedures and examinations that a
care worker could not.
Nursing homes are available for people
with complex additional needs, so the
fees are guaranteed to be higher. Hull,
Sheffield, Bradford and Leeds were up
next in second, all of which had weekly
fees of £810, monthly fees of £3,240
and annual fees of £38,880.
TOP 5 LEAST
AFFORDABLE
The cities with the least cost-effective
nursing homes were Brighton,
Reading and Portsmouth, all charging
around £1,019 weekly, £4,076
monthly and £48,912 annually. This
is fairly unsurprising, considering that
Brighton is one of the most expensive
cities in the UK - with some statistics
highlighting that, in some aspects, it is
more expensive than London.
Reading is more surprising, as a recent
article highlighted that it was one of
the top three least expensive cities to
live in during the cost of living crisis.
Portsmouth is also one of the cheapest
places to live in the UK - attracting
hundreds of students each year
because of this - making this ranking,
again, unexpected.
RADAR HEALTHCARE | UK QUALITY OF CARE REPORT

8. WHICH CITIES HAVE THE MOST
CARE HOMES AND BOAST THE MOST
IMPRESSIVE NUMBER VS RATING
RATIO?
Next up, we delved into the cities that had impressive ratios between the number of care homes they had
and how good their ratings were - but which cities came out on top? London was at the top of the list when it
came to having the most care homes, with a very respectable 421.
As well as this, we were able to reveal that 326 of those homes were ranked as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ by the
Care and Quality commission (CQC). This left London with an overall ratio of good care homes to how many
homes they had of 77%. As London has a very high population of people, this is to be expected.

9. In second place for the most care homes was Birmingham, with 197 care homes and 145 of them with
exceptional scores for their quality of care. This left Birmingham with an overall ratio of 74% - very similar to
that of London, despite having significantly fewer homes.
Nottingham came in third, with an overall score of 172 care homes. Out of these homes, 119 of them were
ranked highly by inspectors, giving this city a reputable ratio of 69%. However, despite these locations
boasting the most impressive numbers of homes, it was Bristol that took the top spot when it came to the
most admirable ratio - with 87%. This was achieved because, out of its 146 care homes, a staggering 127 were
ranked as outstandingly good. The second-highest ratio was snatched by Sheffield (82%), as out of 104 care
homes, 85 of them were marked as being remarkable.
With the CQC, CI, and CIW working to inspect and monitor UK health and social care services, and ensuring
that welfare standards are high and rules are being adhered to. Technology can be a great way of managing
and maintaining employee records, training, appraisals, supervisions, and compliance requirements. This will
highlight that an organisation values their individual workers and is invested in supporting and retaining them.
Therefore, managing everything in one system helps to ensure that your workforce is well informed,
encourages better communication, and helps both management and staff stay up to date.
RADAR HEALTHCARE | UK QUALITY OF CARE REPORT

10. Finally, we analysed the number of homes in the UK that specialised in dementia care. Dementia is an
umbrella term, and diseases such as Alzheimer’s come underneath it. It refers to slowly or rapidly losing your
ability to remember crucial information - even factors such as who you are or where you live.
It can be vascular, while it can also cause issues with speech and movement. As it impacts day-to-day life
so severely, it is crucial that care homes know the signs to look out for, as well as having staff members who
specialise in caring for people with the disease.
London was in first place once again with 242 care homes specialising in dementia care. As there are
currently around 944,000 living with dementia in the UK alone, it is refreshing to see so many establishments
taking these numbers as seriously as they should be. In joint-second place were Birmingham and
Nottingham with 113 dementia-specialising care homes, while Leicester followed closely behind with 96.
Very often, people suffering
from dementia will forget how to
perform tasks that allow them to
maintain a high standard of living,
such as washing themselves,
knowing how to boil the kettle,
how to fry an egg, and so on. Some
people with very advanced stages
of the disease may need 24-hour
care in order to ensure their own
safety. Maintaining high numbers
of dementia-specialising homes is
of paramount importance for these
reasons, as well as the fact that the
number of people with dementia is
set to increase rapidly over the next
few decades.
REVEALING THE AVERAGE COST OF
WEEKLY, MONTHLY, AND ANNUAL
PRIVATE NURSING CARE HOMES
ACROSS THE UK

11. RADAR HEALTHCARE | UK QUALITY OF CARE REPORT
HOW WILL THE NEW CQC STRATEGY
BRING POSITIVE CHANGE TO YOUR
CARE ORGANISATION AND IMPROVE
THE QUALITY OF CARE?
This year is a big one for the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Towards the end of last year, the CQC
announced its plans to adapt its strategy to be more people-focused and began rolling out the new
assessment framework throughout several organisations across the country. And now the new approach is
fully underway, but how can you and your teams utilise the new framework to improve quality of care?
Mark Harrison, Customer Success Lead at Radar Healthcare highlights what to expect in the new CQC
framework and best practices to improve quality of care:
“Although the way CQC regulators assess and work alongside organisations has changed, the CQC’s primary
purpose, values, and roles will not. The CQC still aims to: “make sure health and social care services provide
people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.
“The pandemic highlighted the real need for a more flexible and reactive model. Therefore, the new
model aims to reflect this by applying a single assessment framework that connects registration activity to
assessments.
“It sets out to be simpler and easier to complete, to allow more time to focus on people, and better reflect
real-life needs and experiences, whilst tackling some of the current challenges faced in health and social
care.”
What will the new single assessment framework look like?
► Moving away from multiple assessments to one single assessment framework to reduce duplication and
simplify the process of collecting evidence
► The quality ratings and the five key questions will remain central to the approach (e.g. “Is your service safe,
effective, responsive, well-led, and caring?”)
► Key Lines of Enquiries (KLOEs) will be replaced with Quality Statements (or ‘we statements’) to focus on
specific topic areas within each key question
► To coincide with a more people-focused approach, there will be six new evidence categories; people’s
experiences, feedback from staff and leaders, observations of care, feedback from partners, processes,
and outcomes of care
Mark adds: The key to being inspection-ready is preparation and having the right tools to support you.
Inspections can be daunting and stressful, but with the right processes and technology in place, they don’t
have to be.
“First and foremost, you and your teams need to understand what it is each regulatory body is expecting
from you (whether that be the Care Quality Commission, the Care Inspectorate, or the Care Inspectorate
Wales) and then you can define how you evidence this in practice. Digital transformation solutions, like Radar
Healthcare, can be an easy way to help collate, document and organise evidence while continuing a culture
of continuous improvement for care providers.”

12. CQC INSPECTION REPORT:
REPORTING INCIDENTS
AND LEARNING FROM
WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
Orri was rated ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC in 2022. In their evaluation of Orri,
the Care Quality Commission mentioned Radar Healthcare as a factor that
had contributed to their success.
“Managers used systems to collect data from the service. Managers had
access to a secure electronic database called ‘Radar Healthcare’ which
gave them oversight of incidents, complaints, staff sickness, policies,
audits and safeguarding referrals. It was easy to pull data from the system
and create reports. For example, on length of treatment.” CQC Inspector
(2022)
Further extract from the report:
“The service managed client safety incidents well. Staff recognised incidents
and reported them appropriately on the electronic system. When things went
wrong, staff apologised and gave clients honest information and suitable
support. Managers investigated incidents appropriately and ensured that
feedback from investigations and learning from incidents were discussed in
the weekly staff meetings as a standing agenda item.
Managers used an electronic system called ‘Radar Healthcare’ to send
summaries of lessons learned and staff were expected to complete reflective
questions. Managers also shared a monthly lessons learned newsletter.
Managers assessed staff competencies and any additional training needs
by organising monthly emergency simulation scenarios. They acted out an
unannounced emergency scenario and assessed how staff responded. This
reduced the chance of errors occurring when a real emergency incident
happened.
A recent scenario identified that staff needed additional training in first aid.
Managers completed a monthly audit of incident investigation, complaints
and whether the duty of candour had been met. In October 2021 staff
had achieved 95% compliance with this audit. Staff understood the duty of
candour. They were open and transparent and gave clients and families a
full explanation if and when things went wrong.” – Orri’s CQC Inspection
report 2022.
SAFE? EFFECTIVE? CARING? RESPONSIVE? WELL-LED?

13. RADAR HEALTHCARE | UK QUALITY OF CARE REPORT
Automated action planning
“We reviewed the computer system and saw that there were drop down boxes which had to be completed as
part of the safeguarding referral. If any were answered “no” the system automatically generated an action plan
which the person allocated to investigate had to complete before the referral could be closed.” ERS Medical
CQC inspection report
Monitoring to ensure staff are fully trained
“The matrix confirmed that staff training was 98% complete. The software system sent an alert to the training
manager when training was due so they could plan it into the staff members rota. This meant that people were
supported by staff who had the skills and knowledge to meet their needs.” Porthaven Care Homes CQC
inspection report
Effective auditing
“There was a monthly audit program in place. We saw audit compliance were always above the set standard.”
ERS Medical CQC inspection report
Robust controls
“Exceptionally robust quality and governance controls meant that the risks to the service were identified and
mitigated quickly and that when errors did occur, lessons were learnt and shared to prevent reoccurrence.”
Essex Cares CQC inspection report
Proactive care
“The manager had looked at ways to get more feedback from staff, relatives and people who used the service
about the home. A new electronic system was being used. Any feedback went directly to the managers email.
Responses we saw were very positive. One comment “Thank you once again for looking after my [relative].”
Gorsey Clough CQC inspection report
Well managed risks
“Risks were well managed. Where people had behaviours that might challenge the service these were being
identified, monitored and well managed.” Gorsey Clough CQC inspection report
Good oversight
“There were effective and integrated business management systems which gave senior leaders up to date
information and oversight of the service.” ERS Medical CQC inspection report
Technology to make information accessible
“Staff felt that changing to an electronic care planning and record keeping system had led to improvements
in the quality of documentation. Their comments included, “It is so much more organised. I love the new
systems, I can find everything I need”, “Everything is easier, I know where to find things now” and “They are
tidier and you can see at a glance what is going on, you can look back on the days before easily, it is really
handy.” Porthaven Care Homes CQC inspection report
Reflecting on lessons learnt
“Incidents were recorded on a new software system and were reviewed by the registered manager and
the regional director before being closed. They could reflect on and review the quality of the actions and
the findings were fed down to the staff group. Different actions included referrals to health and social care
professionals, additional staff training and changes to people’s care plans. The registered manager told us,
“This system is more focussed and sophisticated.” Porthaven Care Homes CQC inspection report
CQC INSPECTION REPORTS:
REFERENCES TO RADAR HEALTHCARE

14. ABOUT RADAR HEALTHCARE
At Radar Healthcare, we believe in making a difference. Combining digital innovation with
hands-on experience in health and social care environments characterises our strategies, with
the end goal always being to make health and social care safer.
We’re not just selling risk, quality and compliance software, it’s the importance of resident
outcomes. When we talk about user experience and engagement, our commitment to
helping deliver our partners better health and social care results has been there since day
one. Compliance isn’t just ticking a box; it’s creating a safer experience. Spotting trends and
analysing data isn’t just for board reporting, it’s learning how to prevent incidents and improve
future outcomes.
Our award-winning software includes solutions covering:
► Regulatory compliance
► Communication and collaboration
► Governance and assurance
► Quality improvement
► Safety and outcomes
► Continuous improvement
► Operational performance
► Brand protection
We understand the day-to-day pressures and challenges faced, which is why we are
constantly evolving our software to stay on top of the latest requirements.
“We’re here to help health
and social care providers
make a real difference,
now and in the future.”
Paul Johnson, CEO Radar
Healthcare

15. METHODOLOGY
AND DATA
SOURCES
RADAR HEALTHCARE | UK QUALITY OF CARE REPORT
The Quality of Care Report by the experts
at Radar Healthcare discovers which UK
cities boast the best quality of care for
later life.
Taking a seed list of 25 of the largest UK
cities by investment strength, the report
reveals the best UK city for care homes
relating to the following in order to assess
the best cities for later life care:
• Average cost of private care home
fees - the average weekly, monthly,
and yearly care home fees
• Average cost of Private care home
Fees (with nursing care) - the average
cost of weekly, monthly, and yearly
care home fees
• Number of care homes in each city
• Number of care homes rated Good or
above by the regulation body
• Ratio of care homes rated good and
above
• Number of Care homes in each UK
city specialising in Dementia care
• Average monthly and yearly salary in
each UK city
• Average monthly cost of living costs -
Single person without rent
Sources:
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/
pensions/article-9168469/How-care-
home-fees-area.html
https://www.caresourcer.com/s/
providers/towns/
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/
https://www.investmentmonitor.ai/
features/largest-cities-uk-investment-
strengths/

16. To find out more, book a demo and speak
to our expert team visit
www.radarhealthcare.com
UK QUALITY OF CARE REPORT (RH016) V1 JUNE 23