Scotland’s Top 10 care homes named in 2024 league table - including three in Edinburgh

It comes as the Sunday Times published its Care Home League Table for 2024, containing key performance metrics on Scotland’s care homes to allow families to assess standards across the care industry.

The league table shows that Stirling is the best place to grow old in the country. Care homes in Stirling were rated the highest on average across the country, receiving mostly “good” or “very good” ratings in all categories.

The highest performing homes in Stirling include Falls of Dochart Retirement Home, in Killin, which was awarded “excellent” for support and wellbeing, and Gowanlea, which also secured top marks for its facilities.

Stirling is followed closely by neighbouring Clackmannanshire, where staff at council-owned Ludgate House, in Alloa, were rated “excellent”.

East Renfrewshire also performed well, with several care homes rated “very good” across various categories.

However, Robert Douglas Memorial Home in Scone, Perthshire –founded through the legacy of a Perthshire jam pioneer –knocked Abbeyfield Ballachulish from the top spot and emerged as the best care home overall. Rated “excellent” across four categories, residents told inspectors that staff were exceptionally helpful and kind.

Heatherfield Nursing Home in Armadale, West Lothian, also scored strongly. Inspectors described the home as “sector-leading with outstandingly high outcomes for people”.

Lochbank in Forfar is the only Scottish care home that received an “unsatisfactory” rating, with its staff rated as “unsatisfactory”, the setting as “adequate” and all other categories as “weak”. One staff member told inspectors time management was “chaotic”, and another said “staffing levels are despicable” and “not always safe”.

In fifth place on the top 10 list was Cluny Lodge Nursing Home in Edinburgh, while the Capital's Glencairn and Craighall House are in 9th and 10th spot respectively.

The scores are based on the most recent results allocated to each care home by the Care Inspectorate, which is the regulator for the care industry. The Care Inspectorate ranks care homes on a six-point scale across five categories of wellbeing: leadership, staff, setting, care, and support.

Magnus Llewellin, editor of The Times Scotland, said: “Our Care Home League Table presents the public with valuable and reliable data on important care-based categories, from which informed decisions can be made for those in need of care.

“The purpose of the league table is to offer data in an easily accessible format, so that family members can understand care standards across the country. It is not intended to be Scotland’s care homes ranked from best to worst.

“It is also important to recognise that these findings do not capture the dedication and hard work staff members commit to give people in need of care the attention they deserve.”

The top 10 care homes in Scotland from recent inspections are:

1: Robert Douglas Memorial Home, Perth and Kinross, 2: Abbeyfield Ballachulish, Highland; 3: Balcarres, Dundee city; 4L Gowanlea, Stirling; 5: Cluny Lodge Nursing Home, Edinburgh; 6: Harestane Nursing Home, Dundee city; 7: St Ninians Care Home, Perth and Kinross; 8: Ludgate House Resource Centre, Clackmannanshire; 9: Glencairn, Edinburgh; 10: Craighall House, Edinburgh.