CQC requires improvement at Lindisfarne Hartlepool, Cleveland

4 September 2013

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told the registered provider of Lindisfarne Hartlepool nursing and residential home, Masefield Road, Hartlepool, Cleveland that they must take immediate action to improve standards of care.   

A report which is published on the CQC website today identifies the findings from a CQC inspection carried out in June 2013 as part of CQC’s annual programme of care home inspections.

When they visited the home, CQC found that the provider, Gainford Care Homes, was failing to meet all nine of the national standards reviewed. By law, providers of care services must ensure that they are meeting all standards.  

Visiting inspectors reviewed a sample of care and treatment records, observed how care was being delivered, and spoke with people living in the home and their relatives as well as members of staff. As a result they found that improvements were required in a number of areas.

Inspectors found:

• Care plans were inconsistent and did not always indicate that people’s needs had been fully assessed either prior to, or following, admission.
• Inspectors were concerned that staff lacked the skills and experience to provide nursing care that fully met the needs of people with more complex physical health care requirements.
• In cases where people lacked the capacity to consent, inspectors found that the provider had not acted in accordance with legal requirements.
• Regular monitoring of food and fluid intake was not being carried out for residents at high risk of malnutrition or dehydration.
• The home did not fully protect people with appropriate arrangements for the recording, handling, using, safe keeping and safe administration of medicines.
• Up to date training was not being provided and staff were not sufficiently supported to carry out their roles.
• The home did not effectively monitor the quality of service being provided and there was a lack of systems in place to manage risks or improve the service by learning from incidents or errors.

Following the CQC’s inspection the provider has made the decision to stop providing nursing care at Lindisfarne Hartlepool. All residents with nursing care needs are being supported by the local authority and CCG Commissioners to find alternative arrangements that fully meet their care requirements.

Malcolm Bower-Brown, CQC’s Regional Director for the North said:

“The failings at Lindisfarne Hartlepool are a real concern and we have told the provider where immediate improvements need to be made.

"We are working closely with Hartlepool Council and Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees Clinical Commissioning Group to ensure the safety of all residents.

“We continue to monitor the situation carefully and we will not hesitate to take further regulatory action should this prove necessary to ensure the people using the service receive the service they are entitled to expect."

Any regulatory decision that CQC takes is open to challenge by a registered person through a variety of internal and external appeal processes.

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

Read the reports from our checks on standards at Lindisfarne Hartlepool.