Harriets, a care home in Workington, Cumbria, remains in special measures after the CQC again rated them as Inadequate following an unannounced inspection in July this year.
Harriets is a single story building situated in the village of Distington. It is registered to provide care and support to older people and people living with dementia.
This service was previously inspected in January this year, where inspectors found four breaches of legal requirements, and the home was placed into special measures for not meeting regulations. Harriets has not sufficiently improved to protect people using this service and CQC is now considering the appropriate regulatory response.
Rob Tovey, Head of Adult Social Care in the North West for CQC, said:
“People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care.
“We found that the care provided at Harriets fell short of what we expect services to provide. Although they have made some small improvements since our last inspection, these do not take the standard of care they provide up to a level that we are happy with.
“For example, although staffing levels had improved since our last visit, at this inspection we had to make further recommendations about retention, deployment and competence issues amongst staff.
“We were also concerned that Harriets were still failing to provide us with evidence of managing the risks related to infection control, medication, health and safety and falls.
“We are working with local partners including Cumbria County Council to ensure the safety of people using this service.”
The full report from the inspection can be found on this website.
Inspectors noted that staff had received training and were being encouraged to attend further training. However, there were no staff members in the home suitably trained to support the management of moving and handling matters. Staff supervision lacked detail and, although appraisals had been planned, they had not been carried out. This was a breach of regulation because staff needed further support in order to develop in the roles.
Although good quality food was bought and suitable meals made, inspectors saw that some people needed more support whilst eating and drinking but this wasn’t always given. Care files also lacked detail around recording the food eaten by people at risk of malnourishment.
Inspectors noted environmental problems inside and outside the building. People could not safely go outside because of the lack of garden furniture, uneven paving, overgrown gardens and a missing fence next to the road, some parts of the building needed to be made more secure. Inspectors saw that some decoration had been completed but more work needed to be done on general standards of décor in the building as well as the standards of general environmental maintenance.
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For further information, please contact Kerri James, CQC Regional Engagement Communications Officer by email kerri.james@cqc.org.uk or by phone on 07464 92 9966.
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