The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has placed RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning; 5 Pears Court into special measures and rated it as Inadequate overall.
The children’s home at Five Pears Court is one of a group of specialist built bungalows at the Pears Centre in Ash Green, Coventry. The centre provides care for children and young people up to the age of nineteen and there is a school and accommodation for children attending the school on the same site, which is regulated by Ofsted.
CQC carried out this inspection - following concerns raised by Ofsted about the part of the facility it regulates - on 1 and 15 February and 5 April 2018.
RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning; 5 Pears Court is rated Inadequate overall. It is rated Inadequate for being safe and well-led and Requires Improvement for being caring, effective and responsive.
At the time of CQC’s first two visits during this inspection four children or young people lived at 5 Pears Court, but by the time of the second visit, on 5 April, one child had been removed from the service by commissioners, due to concerns surrounding their care and welfare.
Maggie Hannelly, CQC’s Head of Inspection for Adult Social Care in the central region said:
“It is essential that RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning; 5 Pears Court takes action to address the concerns we identified at this inspection.
“Inspectors found the service was failing to provide safe care. Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were not always identified, and risk management plans were not always available to instruct staff on how they should manage risks to people consistently and safely.
“There were not always sufficient qualified and trained staff on duty to care for children and young people safely and we were concerned about a lack of strong leadership at the service. As a result of our findings, the service has been rated Inadequate and placed into special measures.
“CQC is aware of the separate Charity Commission’s inquiry into the Royal National Institute of Blind People and its subsidiary charity, RNIB Charity, over concerns about the safeguarding of vulnerable beneficiaries and we await the outcome of this.
“Since the inspection we have been working closely with Ofsted, the local authority and CCG and we will continue to monitor the service closely.
“The service must ensure it takes robust action to ensure improvements are made and we will return to carry out further inspections.”
Under CQC’s programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
A full report from the inspection of RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning; 5 Pears Court has been published on our website.
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The service must ensure it takes robust action to ensure improvements are made and we will return to carry out further inspections
Maggie Hannelly, CQC’s Head of Inspection for Adult Social Care in the central region