Personal recommendations about care homes are rarer than hen's teeth and yet it seems to be that most people rely on the views of others when they choose a care home. I have even seen statistics that suggest one third of people only see one care home when making their choice - presumably through lack of information about the others.

If you don't have access to unbiased information it is easy to see how the first one you see could become the ultimate destination.

My ethos as I explained in my first blog, is that if you have a problem with an area of care try and find a solution. So I have set up www.best-care-home.co.uk. Initially I simply wanted to provide an online register of the best care homes, with a lot more information that simply a name, address and telephone number - so I encouraged lots of photos, links to CQC reports, videos (more of that later). Anything that will really give a prospective resident and their family a realistic and valuable insight into the home, before they visit it; and I made this free to the care home so that there were no barriers to providing information.

I also encouraged personal recommendations of the homes; and if I believed everything I read in the newspapers, I wasn't expecting to receive very many - how wrong could I be. I have received hundreds in a few months and they are moving and genuine and would really encourage me to visit that home.

So congratulations to the homes and the staff that have received these pesonal recommendations and thank you to the members of the public, residents, health visitors and everybody else that wanted to share their positive experiences with others.