We would like to advise members that with effect from April 2025 we will no longer operate our Bed Vacancy Tracker service.
We have provided the Bed Vacancy Tracker for several years as a means by which our members can promote their bed vacancies in real time to social workers, hospitals and the public.
However, there has been a mandatory requirement on care providers since July 2022 to complete the monthly National Capacity Tracker, which also includes reporting bed vacancies. In addition, earlier this year the National Capacity Tracker team launched CareFind which provides an alternative service offering similar functionality to the Bed Vacancy Tracker. CareFind launched in April 2024 and is a public-facing website that is available to care home providers to promote their services to the public for free.
We recently consulted both our members and statutory partners in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin (Shropshire Council, Telford & Wrekin Council and NHS Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin ICB) on their knowledge, use and perceived value of the Bed Vacancy Tracker.
We received only 11 responses from the 96 care home members who were consulted, a response rate of 12%. The majority of the care homes who responded are now also using CareFind. We also received responses from Telford & Wrekin Council and the ICB who both advised that they do not use the Bed Vacancy Tracker to check bed availability. No response was received from Shropshire Council.
Having regard to the low response rate received to the member consultation, the responses received from those members who did respond, and the responses received from our statutory partners, our Board of Directors took the decision at their meeting in October 2024 to cease provision of the Bed Vacancy Tracker with effect from April 2025. We would encourage care home members who currently use the Bed Vacancy Tracker, as well as care home members who do not use the Bed Vacancy Tracker, to utilise CareFind as a means of advertising their bed availability if they don’t already do so.
How to appear on CareFind
In order to successfully appear on CareFind, care homes will need to complete their 'Public Profile' tab on Capacity Tracker – see screenshot below – this should take no longer than 5-15 minutes to complete. As a minimum, one 'main image', a phone number and an email address are required.
Further Information
For further information on CareFind please contact North of England Care System Support (NECS), the team behind the National Capacity Tracker via:
Support Centre Assistance: Telephone: 0191 691 3729
Email: