CQC requires improvement at Roberttown Care Home, Liversedge, West Yorkshire

7 August 2013

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told the registered provider of Roberttown Care Home, Church Road, Liversedge in West Yorkshire 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 as part of CQC’s annual programme of care home inspections.   

When they visited the home, CQC found that the provider, Roberttown Care Home Limited, 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 for people using the service, observed how people were being cared for and spoke with service users, relatives and members of staff. As a result they found that improvements were required in a number of areas.

Inspectors found that people living at the home were not always involved in decisions about their care and treatment, and they were concerned that

people did not always have their privacy and dignity respected.

Mental capacity assessments had been carried out, however those reviewed by inspectors were not situation specific and did not take account of people’s fluctuating ability to make decisions or consent to treatment.

Some care plans reviewed by inspectors were incomplete and did not always contain information on assessments or monitoring of people’s conditions. Inspectors were also concerned that there was a lack of activities available for people living in the home.

A review of the home’s accident and incident records showed that safeguarding incidents had not been properly reported to the relevant authorities and staff were not always clear about what consitituted abuse or how to respond to allegations of abuse.

Some areas of the home were dirty and had an unpleasant odour. In addition, the home did not have adequate systems in place to asses the risk of infection or prevent and control the spread of infection. 

Inspectors found that there were not enough suitably qualfied staff on duty to fully meet the needs of people living at the home, and staff were not receiving the training and support they needed in order to deliver care safely.

The home did not effectively monitor the quality of service being provided and there was no evidence to show that comments and complaints that people raised about the service were being investigated or responded to.

Accurate and appropriate records were not always being maintained or stored securely.

Roberttown Care Home Limited provides accommodation and nursing care for up to 29 people.

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

“The shortfalls we found at Roberttown Care Home are a real concern and we have told the provider where immediate improvements need to be made.

“We continue to monitor the situation carefully and will not hesitate to take further regulatory action should this prove necessary to ensure the people living at the home 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

Further details of the inspectors’ findings are published on Roberttown Care Home Limited.