The Care Quality Commission has published the full findings of its inspections of three care services provided by SHC Clemsfold Group Limited in West Sussex..
Two of the homes Longfield Manor and Kingsmead Lodge have been rated as Requires Improvement and Beech Lodge has been rated as Good. CQC is currently taking further action to protect the safety and welfare of all the people living at the homes
The full reports available on the CQC website include:
The CQC have brought forward a series of inspections of nine care homes belong to SHC Clemsfold Group Limited. Working closely with other stakeholders including West Sussex County Council, the Commission were made aware of risks in people’s care.
As a result of the concerns which have been raised to CQC and other stakeholders, the provider is currently subject to a police investigation. While CQC inspectors did not examine specific safeguarding allegations which have formed part of these investigations, the Commission did use the information raised by partner agencies to plan what areas to inspect and to judge the safety and quality of the services at the time of the inspections.
Deborah Ivanova, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the South, said:
“It is clearly the responsibility of the provider SHC Clemsfold Group Limited, to ensure that all of their services provide consistent high quality care. For a service to be well led, the management of the service must have high quality support and robust, regular oversight from the registered provider. This is to monitor the quality of care delivered and ensure good practice and learning is shared over all of the services. However, there is evidence that Sussex Health Care does not do this consistently and effectively enough."
“We will be returning to all of the homes again in due course and will expect to see improvements made.”
At Beech Lodge, CQC had previously carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service in July 2015 where it was awarded an overall rating of 'Good' and rated as 'Good' in all domains apart from the 'Well Led' domain which was rated 'Requires Improvement' as there was no registered manager in post. At this inspection the Commission found that a manager was now in place and instigated a range of quality and safety audits to ensure the well-being of people living in the service. With that, safeguarding procedures were in place that offered protection to people. The provider and manager responded positively to safeguarding concerns and took action to address these. Records confirmed that when issues were raised action was taken. For example, as a result of one person raising concerns about laundry and how badly items could be labelled. The manager held supervisions with staff to reinforce their responsibilities and changes were made to the labelling of items Not all of the improvements were fully implemented and further evidence was needed to demonstrate that changes are embedded and that the provider has effective governance systems to sustain good practice, therefore the well led rating of Requires Improvement remains.
At the last inspection in January 2017, Kingsmead Lodge was given a rating of 'Good'. However, the service was asked to make improvements and provide meaningful activities and access to the community for people. At this inspection, improvements had not been made and the quality of safety and care had deteriorated. Inspectors also identified three breaches of the regulations.
At Longfield there were systems to help improve the quality of the service, these were not always effective, as they had not identified the breaches of regulation which inspectors found during the inspection. The deployment and routine of staff in the morning meant that some people's preferences, for example when they were assisted to get up, were not always met. This issue had not been identified in any of the audits and checks completed by the provider or registered manager. There were aspects of medicines management which were not robust and had not been identified by the manager, despite monthly audits having taken place.
There was evidence of improvements having been made in accurate record keeping, but further work was still needed. The provider had increased the numbers of staff on duty in order to help address some of the quality and safeguarding concerns raised by stakeholders. However, staff were not deployed effectively to meet people's needs. Some people who required assistance from two staff due to moving and handling needs were routinely left until staff had assisted people who only required assistance from one staff member. This did not promote personalised care. Staff told inspectors that they received sufficient support and training to undertake their roles and responsibilities. However, inspectors found that, despite a training programme being in place, some staff had not completed annual safeguarding, Mental Capacity Act or dementia training as required by the provider. Some nurses had not completed training relevant to the needs of people who lived at the home. Further training had been arranged to take place later in the year. However, the registered manager was unable to demonstrate how she ensured staff with sufficient knowledge and skills were deployed on each shift.
Ends
For further information, please contact John Scott, Regional Engagement Manager on 077898 75809.
Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here.
Please note: the press office is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters. For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.