CQC requires improvement at Weston Park Care Home in Macclesfield

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told the registered provider of Weston Park Care Home, Moss Lane in Macclesfield 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 May and June 2014 to follow up on improvements required at a previous inspection.

When they visited the home, CQC found that the provider, Lunan House Limited, was failing to meet six of the seven 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 of people living in the home, observed how care was being delivered, and spoke with residents and members of staff.

Staff showed a genuine care for the people they were supporting and several people using the service spoke positively about the service they received. However inspectors identified a number of concerns. For example:

• Care plans for people who demonstrated challenging behaviour contained limited guidance to direct staff in how to manage their needs.
• There were no activities available to people living at the home and staff felt that they had little time to engage with people living at the home on a regular basis.
• Inspectors found that a number of agency staff were being used on a regular basis due to the high level of staff vacancies. This meant that people living at the home were not receiving consistent care.
• A review of staff training records revealed only 69 per cent of mandatory training had been completed by staff. In addition, inspectors observed some members of staff that lacked competencies in meeting people's needs in dementia.
• Inspectors saw staff speaking loudly in communal lounges to each other about the personal care being given to people living at the home. In doing so, staff were breaching people's confidentiality and failing to treat people with dignity and respect.
• The home was failing to effectively monitor the quality of service being provided and incidents and errors were not analysed to identify trends and put actions in place to prevent reoccurrence.
• Inspectors raised concerns that complaints had not been adequately logged and felt it was unclear whether complaints had been properly investigated and action taken.
• Personal care records for people living at the home contained inaccuracies and were not always up-to-date.

As a result of the inspection, CQC has issued four formal warnings to the provider requiring improvements in relation to care and welfare of people who use services, assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision records management and supporting workers.

The home must also take action to address shortfalls against the additional two standards that are not being met.

Debbie Westhead, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North said:

“This multiple shortfall against national standards is unacceptable and we have warned Lunan House Limited that immediate improvements must be made.

“We continue to monitor the situation carefully and we will inspect again in the near future to ensure residents are being given 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

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For further information please contact CQC Regional Communications Officer Kirstin Hannaford on 0191 233 3629.

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