Care homes in Blackburn with Darwen are bucking the trend across the north west.

A report released by support group Independent Age into care home standards across the UK found the north west had the highest percentage of care homes deemed inadequate or requiring improvement by the Care Quality Commission.

28.2 per cent are currently rated as such, compared to 33.6 per cent last year.

But Blackburn with Darwen is rated one of the 20 best performing local authorities in the country, with just 9.1 per cent of homes deemed below standard, down from 9.4 per cent last year.

The worst performing local authority in the country is Tameside, Greater Manchester, where more than half of care homes are failing to meet the required standard.

In Lancashire, 26 per cent of homes are currently judged inadequate or requiring improvement compared to 32 per cent last year.

The report states: “When we look at the changes in the ratings of care home provision at a national or regional level, there have clearly been positive changes in the past year.

“Nationally, the number of “good” and “outstanding” rated care homes has increased, and the number of “requires improvement” and “inadequate” rated care homes has decreased.

“Furthermore, in every region of England, the percentage of care homes rated “requires improvement” or “inadequate” has decreased in the past year - this the case in 114 individual local authorities. However, it is important that we recognise that the picture is not wholly positive as some local authorities are bucking the positive trend seen nationally, with 33 local authorities actually increasing their proportion of poor quality homes in the last year.

“This means that, for 1 in 5 local authorities, the proportion of care homes rated “inadequate” or “requires improvement” has increased.

“This shows that while improvements year on year are positive and show some local authorities to be on the right path, there remains a lot of work to be done to ensure care home residents have access to good quality care: something Independent Age believes must be available to everyone.”

Independent Age chief executive Janet Morrison said: “Older people and their families are still facing an unenviable choice between poor care homes in some parts of the country.

“While it is encouraging that there has been an overall improvement in quality, this masks persistent variation in the quality of care homes within each region of the country.”