North Yorkshire Council
Skipton and Ripon Area Committee
4 June 2026
Overview of Residential and Nursing Care and Extra Care provision in the Skipton and Ripon Area
1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1 To provide an update, as requested, on the Residential and Nursing Homes within the Skipton and Ripon Committee Area.
2.0 SUMMARY
2.1 The Committee is asked to note the information regarding the current availability of residential and nursing care in the Skipton and Ripon area and the contribution made by our in-house care provider service.
3.0 BACKGROUND
3.1 In the Skipton and Ripon Committee Area there are 19 care homes on the North Yorkshire Council Approved Provider List (APL) providing residential and nursing care to people aged over 65. This includes dementia care. In addition to this, there are 9 care homes providing residential care to working aged adults with a primary need of Learning Disabilities, Mental Health and Physical Disabilities (LD, MH and PD).
· As outlined in Appendix A there are 18 care homes in the Skipton area and 10 in the Ripon area.
· Across these homes there are currently 1045 registered beds (680 in the Skipton area and 365 in the Ripon area).
· There are 359 people currently resident in these homes whose placements are partially or fully funded by NYC (220 in Craven and 139 in Ripon).
· At 06/05/2026 there were a total of 47 vacancies across these care homes (37 in Skipton and 10 in Ripon). In Skipton there were no vacancies in care homes specialising in providing care and support for people with Learning Disabilities or Mental Health needs. In Ripon there were no nursing home vacancies.
· On the same date, 14 of the 28 care homes within the Area Committee Boundaries had reached maximum capacity.
· Over half of all new care home placements in quarter four of 2025/26 were for people with dementia, which is a trend we have seen across the county as well as in the Skipton and Ripon areas.
· One care home in the Skipton area is currently closed due to a fire. Residents were moved to other care homes in the area. There is not currently a confirmed date for reopening.
· There is one application to the APL pending approval for a care home in Thorton-in-Craven. This is an existing care home that closed for a period of time and has been bought and refurbished by a new provider.
4.0 FINANCE INFORMATION
4.1 Of the 28 care homes, 19 provide residential and nursing care for older people, including dementia care. North Yorkshire Council has an Actual Cost of Care; 2026/27 rates are detailed below. 12 of the 19 care homes offer care at Actual Cost of Care rates.
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Residential Care |
£1,001 |
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Residential Dementia Care |
£1,057 |
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Nursing Care |
£1,113 |
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Nursing Dementia Care |
£1,120 |
4.2 The maximum rates charged by the remaining seven care homes range from £1250 to £1604 per week.
4.3 Care homes for working age adults (people with primary needs of LD, MH and PD) are not eligible for Actual Cost of Care rates. Maximum rates charged at these care homes range from £1118 to £2423 per week.
5.0 QUALITY
5.1 There are 2 care homes currently fully suspended from North Yorkshire Council’s APL. In Skipton there are 3 homes with a CQC registration of Requires Improvement, and two not yet inspected. All 10 care homes in Ripon are rated with CQC as Good.
6.0 EXTRA CARE MARKET
6.1 The following extra care schemes fall within the constituency boundaries.
· Sunnyfield Lodge, Ripon
This is a site with 40 units and North Yorkshire Council provide onsite care.
· Woodlands, Skipton
This is a site with 31 units and Abbeyfield Society provider onsite care.
· Eller Beck Court, Skipton
This is a site with 58 units and Catholic Care provide onsite support.
6.2 There may be other care agencies providing care for people living in these schemes, as residents have a choice of care provider.
6.3 North Yorkshire Council hold progress lists for the extra care schemes, with a robust allocation process to support the provider to allocate the flats.
7.0 NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL IN-HOUSE PROVIDER SERVICES
7.1 There is only one North Yorkshire Council owned and run care home in the Skipton & Ripon area, Ashfield in Skipton. Ashfield is a 24 bedded care home with CQC registration for people from the age of 18. It currently provides long term residential care for 10 older people, 9 short term beds and 5 beds offering Intermediate Care.
7.2 The Care Quality Commission last inspected Ashfield in January 2021 and awarded it an overall rating of “good”, a review was conducted in July 2023, and the rating remained as good. While the CQC is the regulator and awards a rating based on 5 key areas, it is expected these are maintained and consistently achieved in day-to-day practice. In order to assess, monitor and drive continuous improvement in the quality and safety of our care provider services a Quality Assurance Framework is in place. This includes a variety of tools and is designed to identify any areas for improvement, highlight good practice and share learning with other services. The Registered Manager completes regular spot checks, audits and reviews, and maintains a continuous service improvement plan which is reviewed, as part of the Governance process, by the Service Manager. In addition to this Service Managers complete mock inspections and targeted audits across the services, the outcomes are then shared at regular Governance meetings. These are held with the Head of Service, Nominated Individual and Assistant Director. Actions from this meeting informs the Care Provider Service Work Plan in conjunction with the Managers’ Governance Meeting, Skills Network and Senior/Team Leader Skills Sessions and Provider Managers Forum.
7.3 The team at Ashfield have worked with the Improvement Academy to establish Safety Huddles, these are short, structured meetings held daily for 5-10 minutes, include all team members and are an opportunity to have open communication, identify potential problems early on and reduce the risk of harm. These are generally focused on falls risks as this is one of the main causes of injury and admission to hospital.
7.4 Ashfield also uses Immedicare which is a digitally enabled NHS service providing support 24 hours a day. The team at Ashfield use Immedicare as a first step when they have a concern about a resident who does not need a 999 response. The staff member is able to speak to a clinician; the clinician can also see and speak to the resident via a video conferencing platform and then provides clinical advice to support the resident. This helps to improve the quality of care for residents by reducing the need for referrals to other healthcare professionals, ambulance conveyance and hospital admissions. In the last 12 months Ashfield have made regular calls to Immedicare with only 2 resulting in a visit to hospital and readmission to Ashfield after being checked in the hospital’s emergency department.
7.5 Feedback is regularly sought from people using the service, family members, and other professionals in order to support continual learning and improve the quality of support provided. In the last 12 months there have been a number of compliments, positive comments and feedback, with only 1 complaint. The complaint was investigated by a manager not connected to the service and was partially upheld. Recommendations were made which were implemented and learning shared with the team.
7.6 This is a comment received from a couple whilst the husband was staying in the intermediate care unit. During the stay it was their 68th Wedding Anniversary and the staff decorated a lounge, laid the table restaurant style and the kitchen provided a special meal for them including their favourite foods.
7.7 Their compliment read “M & J would like to thank you for the excellent meal and arranging the time for us to spend together on our special day. Also, a huge thank you for your care and attention that you are giving to M.”
7.8 This second compliment is from the daughter who was the main carer for her mum who lives with dementia. The daughter had some short-term health issues, so mum came into Ashfield for a stay to give her daughter the respite she needed to recover.
7.9 “I just want to say a huge thank you to you and your team for all the care and kindness shown to my mum during her stay at Ashfield. Every member of staff was so patient and compassionate, no matter how challenging her behaviour. Please pass on my thanks to all your team who were so lovely when I visited and always had time to update me on mum's care when I visited, no matter when it was. You have a fantastic team! Thank you once again…. “
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8.0 |
RECOMMENDATION
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8.1
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Committee to note the content of the report. |
Appendices:
· Appendix A – Overview of Residential and Nursing Care provision in Skipton and Ripon Committee Area
Report authors – Laura Exley, Senior Commissioning & Service Development Officer and
Sandra Mitchell – Service Manager, Care Provider Services
Appendix A