News headline: Too much "awful care" is happening in care homes in England

Reports of poor care for older people in care homes are in the headlines today http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29547598.  The chief inspector of adult social care in England, Andrea Sutcliffe, acknowledges that good care exists in many care homes but that in about 2 per cent of care homes the standards are ‘not good enough’. Yesterday at the RCN Foundation Board we reported on our ongoing work to identify key issues in the care and professional development needs of nurses in care homes.  In the next week we will be sharing some of our interim findings on this blog.  The understanding, knowledge and competence of nurses in care homes directly affect the quality of care that older people experience in care homes and their quality of life.  Knowing more about nurses working in these settings is of great importance and this information gap must be acknowledged and addressed, to reduce the number of reports of poor care.