HEALTH Secretary Wes Streeting’s decision to turn to the private sector for healthcare took another blow today as research revealed that profit-driven care homes account for almost all those shut down for endangering children or vulnerable adults.

An Oxford University study found that, between 2011 and 2023, 98 per cent of the adult care homes closed by the Care Quality Commission in England in order to protect disabled, mentally ill and elderly people from harm were operated by private companies.

Just over 90 per cent of the children’s homes in England closed by Ofsted from 2014 to 2023 were run as businesses, the study also showed.