19 July 2011
Havant care home failing to meet five essential standards.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Dolphin Court Care Home in Havant that it must take swift action to improve services at the home.
Following visits in June 2011, CQC inspectors found that the care provided fell short of the essential standards of quality and safety people should be able to expect from a care home.
Dolphin Court Care Home is owned by the Royal Mencap Society. It is registered to accommodate 12 people with learning disabilities.
CQC has told the Royal Mencap Society that it will be monitoring Dolphin Court Care Home closely and will hold it to account if improvements are not made swiftly. The regulator will not hesitate to take further action to ensure the safety of people who use services, staff and the public.
The CQC report, which is published today, highlights three areas of major concern.
Care and welfare
The care planning documents used in the home did not accurately reflect the needs of people who use the service and do not provide detailed information to staff about how people’s needs should be met. This means people are at risk of receiving care or treatment that is inappropriate or unsafe.
Nutrition
We found an auditing record from April 2011 that identified fluid monitoring charts were not being completed correctly. The systems for ensuring that people identified as at risk of dehydration receive adequate fluids were not effective and increased the risks to people.
Safeguarding people
The registered provider did not take appropriate action to ensure that people using the service are protected from the risk of abuse. The failure to respond to unexplained bruising of one person and the lack of understanding of some staff about the correct procedures to report allegations of abuse meant abuse may remain unreported.
CQC Regional Director for the South East, Roxy Boyce, said: “The care at Dolphin Court Care Home has fallen short of the standards people have a right to expect. The provider is implementing improvements in services at the home, which we welcome, and we will continue to scrutinise this service very closely to ensure these improvements are made and sustained.”
Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, the Care Quality Commission has a number of enforcement powers that enable it to act swiftly when services are failing people. These include issuing warning notices, restricting the services that a provider can offer or the way it is provided; or, in the most serious cases, suspending or cancelling a service. CQC can also issue financial penalty notices and cautions or prosecute the provider for failing to meet essential standards.
Ends
For further information please contact the CQC press office on 0207 448 4502 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.
Notes to editors
About the CQC: Snippet for press releases
About the Care Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.
We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.
We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.
Read the report
Read the reports from our checks on standards at Dolphin Court Care Home.