The Sunday Times has published its Care Home League Table for 2024, containing key performance metrics on Scotland’s care homes to allow families to assess standards across the care industry.
The league table shows Stirling is the country’s best place to grow old. Care homes in Stirling were rated the highest on average across the country, receiving mostly “good” or “very good” ratings in all categories.
The highest performing homes in Stirling include Falls of Dochart Retirement Home, in Killin, which was awarded “excellent” for support and wellbeing, and Gowanlea, which also secured top marks for its facilities.
Stirling is followed closely by neighbouring Clackmannanshire, where staff at council-owned Ludgate House, in Alloa, were rated “excellent”.
East Renfrewshire also performed well, with several care homes rated “very good” across various categories.
However, Robert Douglas Memorial Home in Scone, Perthshire – founded through the legacy of a Perthshire jam pioneer – knocked Abbeyfield Ballachulish from the top spot and emerged as the best care home overall. Rated “excellent” across four categories, residents told inspectors that staff were exceptionally helpful and kind.
Heatherfield Nursing Home in Armadale, West Lothian, also scored strongly. Inspectors described the home as “sector-leading with outstandingly high outcomes for people”.
Lochbank in Forfar is the only Scottish care home that received an “unsatisfactory” rating, with its staff rated as “unsatisfactory”, the setting as “adequate” and all other categories as “weak”. One staff member told inspectors time management was “chaotic”, and another said “staffing levels are despicable” and “not always safe”.
Speaking about Lochbank, the Care Inspectorate said: “We had serious concerns in relation to the staffing levels within the home. We found that people did not have the support of enough trained and competent staff to meet their health, welfare and safety needs.”
These scores are based on the most recent results allocated to each care home by the Care Inspectorate, which is the regulator for the care industry. The Care Inspectorate ranks care homes on a six-point scale across five categories of wellbeing: leadership, staff, setting, care, and support.
The top ten care homes in Scotland from recent inspections are:
- Robert Douglas Memorial Home, Perth and Kinross
- Abbeyfield Ballachulish, Highland
- Balcarres, Dundee city
- Gowanlea, Stirling
- Cluny Lodge Nursing Home, Edinburgh
- Harestane Nursing Home, Dundee city
- St Ninians Care Home, Perth and Kinross
- Ludgate House Resource Centre, Clackmannanshire
- Glencairn, Edinburgh
- Craighall House, Edinburgh
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