ONE in four care homes in Oxfordshire either require improvement or are considered inadequate by an independent health watchdog.

According to the Care Quality Commission website, 24 of the 92 active homes registered in the county have not met all the standards set by inspectors in the past year.

Four have been rated inadequate, 20 require improvement, and the rest have been rated good.

The most recent reports on inspections, published last week, saw four homes told they required improvements, in what has been described as a “worrying trend” by campaign group Patient Voice.

Spokeswoman Jacquie Pearce-Gervis said: “It’s a very worrying trend as we’re all going to get older and we’ll find ourselves in the situation where we have inadequate care.”

Ferendune Court in Faringdon, Mill House in Witney, the Ridings in Banbury and Chilterns Ends in Henley were all criticised by the watchdog.

Paul Cann, chief executive of elderly campaign group Age UK Oxfordshire, said: “We’re always concerned when a care home falls short.

“The key problem is the chronic underfunding of elderly care over the past 10 years.

“The danger is that people could cut corners because of a lack of funding.”

Rose Hill resident Bill Buckingham said the number of care homes not meeting CQC standards was “disgraceful”.

The 93-year-old added: “If these care homes can’t run well, then they should be shut down. I’m 94 next month and to treat older people like this is disgraceful.”

At Ferendune Court, inspectors discovered staff failed to report allegations of a resident inappropriately touching other people to management during a visit in February.

The report said as a result, the 47-bed home, managed by care provider Anchor “was not always safe”.

Anchor district manager Tracey Coomber said: “We take all allegations of abuse seriously and the incident at Ferendune Court was an isolated one.

“The carer who did not report the incident to the manager has received re-training following our own inquiry into what happened.

“Since the inspection, a care adviser has visited the home and a robust improvement plan has been implemented.”

At Banbury-based The Ridings, which is also run by Anchor, staff did not follow the conventional process of filling in ‘do not attempt resuscitation’ forms, potentially causing confusion if a patient suffered a cardiac arrest.

Ms Coomber added: “We are working with the CQC during their ratings review process regarding The Ridings.

“The home, which has an experienced manager, has previously maintained its excellent rating and was fully compliant.”

The CQC published a report on Witney care home Mill House last Tuesday.

During the January inspection at the 32-resident home, the health watchdog found it required improvements to safety, leadership and effectiveness of the service.

People suffering from pressure sores did not always receive the recommended treatment, according to the report.

A spokeswoman for Mill House said: “We are sorry that some aspects of the care at Mill House did not meet the standards that we expect all of our care homes to provide.

"The CQC report relates to an inspection that took place in January 2015 and since that time we have been working on an improvement plan that is being overseen by our regional management team.”

Henley-based care home Chilterns End requires improvement, according to the CQC, due to it being short-staffed at some points in the day.

The care home is run by The Orders of St John Trust.

Care director Richard Hawes said it had only just received the report and declined to comment.

Oxfordshire Care Homes Association chairman George Tuthill said: “Poor staffing levels have a lot to do with issues in care homes.

“The main issue facing care homes is a lack of central funding.”