There have already been numerous documentaries over the past few years regarding abuse and neglect of the elderly in both 'ordinary' residential care and home care situations. Unfortunately, with current government cutbacks, many (I'd hazard a guess at somewhere between most and all) are scaling back or even eliminating internal social care provision, because it is considerably more expensive to run than the private sector. However, the private sector is virtually unregulated (the Care Quality Commission now just checks they meet minimum standards and doesn't bother inspecting again unless they get a significant degree of complaints, rather than assessing each home on a regular basis and awarding it a rating), and many companies (particularly PLCs) run a business strategy of "profit maximisation" - i.e. make more profits each consecutive year. There's a limit to how far they can hike fees, so they'll pay their staff peanuts, expect them to work long hours, skimp on maintenance, and buy the cheapest resources they can get their hands on.

The current government's strategy for pretty much the entire public sector is to open it up to market forces, and expect the market to maintain and improve standards through competition alone. The so-called "Big Society" (which no-one really understands - the PM's attempted to relaunch it four times so far, to a lukewarm reception from everyone except the party faithful) has pretty much failed to materialise, and many are cynical enough to think it really translates as "small government" - transfer as much responsibility for spending decisions out of the hands of central and local government, so when the money dries up they can wash their hands and say "nothing to do with us - we don't control where the money's spent!"