CQC fines Northumberland care home £12,000 for persistent failure to meet regulations

23 January 2014

A care provider which failed persistently to comply with national standards relating to the care and welfare of residents; record keeping and supporting staff has been issued with fines totalling £12,000 by the Care Quality Commission.

CQC issued the three fixed penalty notices to Bramble Lodge Care Home Limited following a series of inspections at the Eastgate Manor nursing home in Stocksfield, Northumberland

At an inspection in February 2013, inspectors identified a number of concerns relating to the care and welfare needs of residents. The provider was also failing to maintain adequate care records and support its own staff effectively.

A warning notice was served on the provider requiring it to address all three issues as a matter of priority. However, when inspectors returned on two further occasions, the necessary improvements had still not been met. In the light of this persistent failure to meet legally required national standards, CQC issued three fixed penalty notices of £4000 each, which the provider has accepted and paid.

Bramble Lodge Care Home Limited has now taken action to address the shortfalls and, on our last inspection, was judged to be meeting the national standards we reviewed. The report from CQC’s latest inspection has been published on the CQC website.

Malcolm Bower-Brown, CQC’s Regional Director (North) said:

“Every provider has a legal duty to meet all national care standards, to ensure people receive the service they are entitled to expect.

Our decision to fine this provider sends a clear and public message that persistent failure to meet national standards is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Since issuing our penalty notices and fining the provider we have returned to Eastgate Manor and found that the required improvements have been made. However, we will continue to monitor the home closely to ensure the improvement is sustained.

Ends

For further information please contact the CQC Regional Communications Team, David Fryer 07901 514 220 or Kirstin Hannaford 0191 233 3629.

The CQC press office can be contacted on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07917 232 143

NOTES TO EDITORS

You can find reports on this provider on the CQC website here.

CQC has issued three fixed penalty notices to Bramble Lodge Care Home Limited, for its failure to meet:

• Regulation 23 Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010, supporting workers
• Regulation 20 Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010, record keeping
• Regulation 9 Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010, Care and welfare of service users

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, CQC can serve a penalty notice when a registered person has failed to comply with certain requirements of the Act or regulations, and we consider that swiftly achieving compliance without beginning lengthy and costly proceedings is a realistic alternative to prosecution.

Any fixed penalty paid to CQC under section 86 of the Act must be repaid by CQC to the Secretary of State. The legal requirements and associated fines are set out in:

www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/documents/20120321_final_enforcement_policy_for_publication.pdf

CQC has a range of enforcement powers which include restricting the services that a provider can offer, 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. Any regulatory decision that CQC takes is open to challenge by a registered person through a variety of internal and external appeal processes.