A quarter of care homes were rated unsatisfactory, weak or adequate by the Care Inspectorate this year, according to Scottish Conservative figures.
This includes Elmgrove Care Home in Inverness, rated “weak” after a number of infection control and safety issues, and Kingsmead Nursing Home in Kingswells, which was deemed “unsatisfactory” and taken over by Aberdeen City Council.
Shadow health secretary Miles Briggs urged the Scottish Government to work more closely with the care home sector and councils to ensure improvements were made to the 275 under par care homes across Scotland.
He said: “Scotland has a well-documented ageing population and, as time goes on, these care homes are only going to become busier and more important.
“The SNP should make moves to sort this out now.
“For one in four Scottish care homes to either be failing, or have improvements to make, is simply not good enough.”
Health Secretary Shona Robison pointed to the 75% of care homes with good or excellent ratings.
She said: “The vast majority of care homes in Scotland deliver high quality care to their residents.
“We have clear standards for the quality of care everyone should be entitled to across our health and social care services, including in residential care homes. This is overseen by the Care Inspectorate, which carries out a rigorous programme of inspections.
“In the current year almost half a billion pounds of NHS spending will be invested in social care services, underlining that importance we attach to improving services.
“This, along with our commitment that all care workers receive the Living Wage, will help to protect and grow care services. In addition, a major programme of reform to adult social care is also being taken forward with COSLA and care providers.”