Residential and Nursing Care Market Position Statement 2025 - 2040 - Current supply

Current supply of residential and nursing care 

The table below is a snapshot of the residential and nursing care market in Walsall as of late 2024/ early 2025. 

There are an estimated 70 care homes in Walsall covering different types of bed-based care. The table shows that the majority (but not all care homes) in the Borough are contracted by Walsall Council on the Council’s Residential and Nursing Open Contract. 

Working Age Residential Care is a service that supports an adult with learning disabilities and/or autism and physical and sensory impairments on a longterm basis. Going forwards, the Council’s strategy is to reduce the number of residential placements, instead supporting people to be more independent within their own homes. 

Older People Residential Care is a service that supports an adult who requires short- or long-term care in a Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered residential care home. The type of services that can be provided in a registered residential care home are: 

• Short-or long-term residential care.
• Short-or long-term specialist care, i.e. dementia, complex behaviours.
• Respite residential care. 

There are many more residential than nursing providers commissioned by Walsall Council. The sustainability of this sector is currently judged to be mixed in terms of:

• The quality of provision. 57.35% of residential and nursing provision is rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC with 20.58% ‘Requires Improvement’
• 22.07% of bed-based providers are currently unrated by the CQC (Source: WM ADASS Care Market Dashboard)
• Weekly published rates paid to providers by Walsall Council – these are uplifted every year but are still tracking at below the rates paid by some comparator Local Authorities. However, the actual average costs paid by Walsall Council for residential and nursing care is higher than weekly published rates due to additional 1-1 and top-up fees paid by the Council to providers.
• In terms of sufficiency of supply, there is ample residential care in the Borough, some of which caters for people not from Walsall. There is less nursing care
• In terms of quality of services there is need for overall improvement as judged by CQC ratings for residential and nursing care and as judged by local quality assurance and improvement plans
• The prices paid for residential and nursing care in Walsall is under continuous review as part of a 3-year pricing and quality improvement plan.

The table gives a summary of the whole residential and nursing market in Walsall and Council spend on residential and nursing care. It shows that a third of Council placements are outside of the Borough. It also shows the quality ratings of provision and the stability of the market currently with no providers exiting Council contracts so far in 2024. A new home has recently been established in the Borough.