Bellevue Healthcare Limited, Middlesbrough rated Inadequate by the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has put Bellevue Healthcare Limited, Middlesbrough, Cleveland into special measures to protect people using this service, after rating them as Inadequate after an inspection in May this year.

Bellevue Healthcare Limited is registered to provide care and support to 102 people. At the time of our inspection there were 60 people using the service and 91 staff employed. There were three units at the service which provided care and support to people living with a dementia, people who required nursing care and young adults living with a physical disability.

We inspected Bellevue Healthcare Limited on11 May 2016. This was an unannounced inspection which meant that the staff and provider did not know that we would be visiting. The inspection was completed because we had received a large number of concerns about the safety of the staffing levels at the home.

At the last inspection completed in April 2016 we judged the home to be rated as Inadequate and found multiple breaches. More concerns had been raised over the intervening weeks so we visited to ensure people were not at an increased risk of harm.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all adult social care services are given a rating to help people choose care. We ask five questions, are services; safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. Overall, Bellevue Healthcare Limited has been rated as Inadequate.

The full report from the inspection can be found here on our website: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-111336142

Following the last inspection we had identified that the registered provider was failing to notify us about occasions when people who used the service had sustained serious injuries or died. We informed the registered provider this was a breach of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) regulations 2009.

Subsequently they started to send in notifications and we identified occasions when people had died unexpectedly or been injured. We were concerned that the information indicated that the home may have neglected people's care and treatment needs and that the registered provider failed to understand the requirements of the regulations.

The report identified a number of other areas which we found deeply concerning including:

• Failure to monitor the weight of people at risk of malnutrition.
• Not administering medications in line with prescriptions.
• People’s dignity being compromised when staff undertook personal care with their bedroom door open.

Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North, said:

“People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care.

“We found that the care provided at Bellevue Healthcare Limited fell a long way short of what we expect services to provide, which is why we have intervened to keep people using this service safe. Our first instinct is to make sure the service improves, but we must also take action to protect people when we are worried about their safety.”

If insufficient improvements have been made such that there remains a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service.

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For further information please contact CQC Regional Communications Officer Kerri James by email kerri.james@cqc.org.uk or by phone on 07464 92 9966. Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here. Please note: the press office is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters.

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