HEALTH Secretary Wes Streeting’s decision to turn to the private sector for healthcare took another blow today as research revealed that profit-driven care homes account for almost all those shut down for endangering children or vulnerable adults.

An Oxford University study found that, between 2011 and 2023, 98 per cent of the adult care homes closed by the Care Quality Commission in England in order to protect disabled, mentally ill and elderly people from harm were operated by private companies.

Just over 90 per cent of the children’s homes in England closed by Ofsted from 2014 to 2023 were run as businesses, the study also showed.

Keep Our NHS Public co-chairman Dr John Puntis said: “While in 1979, the state provided 64 per cent of residential and nursing services, this had fallen to just 6 per cent by 2012.

“Competition generated by the market in social care has not only led to a fall in quality but many instances of market failure, with homes suddenly closing.

“In addition, there has been deregulation and casualisation of care staff.

“Currently, £1.5 billion is taken out of the care sector each year in returns to shareholders and investors.

“These recent findings in relation to forced closures were therefore predictable, rather than surprising.

“With a government now bent on turning to the private sector for healthcare, the lesson could not be more clear — profit-driven providers are expert at extracting value from the public purse but terrible both at providing good-quality care for those in need and for valuing staff.”

Study co-author Ben Goodair said: “Forced closures are a last-resort intervention with severe consequences for residents.

“These closures often involve instances of severe neglect or abuse.

“They also incur substantial financial costs for local authorities, which are responsible for relocating residents.”

The Labour government has promised to create a national care service but has dropped its manifesto commitment to the public sector providing the majority of care.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves also cancelled a planned cap on social care costs in July, citing a £22bn black hole in the public finances.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it was tackling the significant challenges facing social care and was “also committed to building a national care service, underpinned by national standards and delivered locally, to improve the consistency of care and ensure everyone can live an independent and dignified life.”