Buckhurst Hill’s Winterton House care home closed by CQC

The Care Quality Commission has moved to close a care home in north-east London because of its continuing failings.

Winterton House in Buckhurst Hill in the London borough of Redbridge will close this week after the CQC served it with a Notice of Decision to cancel its registration – effectively closing it.

Winterton House is a care home registered to provide accommodation and support with personal care for up to nine older people, some of whom may be living with dementia.

Following inspections in May and November 2016 and March 2017, inspectors’ main concerns were:-

• People were unlawfully restricted from leaving the premises
• People’s needs and rights were not considered. One person’s clothing was stored in the wardrobe in another person’s room, without their permission.
• Another person was encouraged to pray even though they stated they did not believe in any God.
• There were very few activities offered, and these were not suitable for people with dementia.
• Staff had not received any training for a number of years. There was no trained first aider working for the service.
• The premises were cluttered, dirty and unsafe for people with dementia.
• Some essential equipment was broken and unsafe for people to use.
• The provider did not check staff before they started work to ensure they were suitable to support people.
• The provider did not ensure medicines were managed safely.
• The provider did not have a system in place to check the quality and safety of the service people received, and did not listen to or act upon feedback.
• Complaints were not appropriately addressed or responded to.
• The provider was not able to demonstrate she understood the requirements of her registration with CQC, or had the skills, knowledge and experience to run or manage a service for people in need of support.

Alison Murray, CQC’s Head of Inspection Adult Social Care (London), said:

“It is always disappointing when we have to take action to close a care home, but on this occasion we had to take action as the standard of care was woefully inadequate."

“There is no excuse for poor care and CQC will always act if it finds inadequate care. Initially we will always try to help to improve standards. However, if the quality of care does not improve we will use our enforcement powers as we have done at Winterton House.”

You can view the latest inspection report on our website.

Ends

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