Care home inspection plan
Care home firms will have to open their books to inspectors to ensure they are financially sound, under proposals designed to prevent a repeat of the Southern Cross crisis.
The Department of Health has launched a consultation on plans to give regulators the power to go through the books of the biggest care providers, and challenge them to prove their business models are sustainable.
Health Minister Norman Lamb said the demise of Southern Cross shows the need for "greater oversight" of providers' finances, and claimed the regulatory model for homes was "not yet fit for purpose".
"The whole experience demonstrates that we’ve got to make changes to the regulatory model," he told the Today programme.
"You have to keep this regularly under check, because the level of anxiety that people suffered as a result of what happened with Southern Cross is completely unacceptable. I think the whole purpose of what we’re trying to do here is to introduce some greater planning."