CQC requires improvements at a care home in Harrogate

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Esteem Care Limited that they must take immediate action to improve standards of care at Alexander Court Care Home in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

This follows an unannounced visit to the home in July 2014 which was carried out over four days in order to follow up on improvements required at a previous inspection.

Visiting inspectors found that the home was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive or well led; and all eight national standards assessed by the inspection team were not being met.

A full report detailing the findings from this inspection has been published on the CQC website this week.

Inspectors concerns included:

• People living at the home had not been involved in making decisions about their care and treatment options, and information about people’s personal preferences was not always included in their care plans.
• Mental capacity assessments had been carried out; however those reviewed by inspectors contained inconsistencies in the quality of information recorded.
• People did not always experience care, treatment and support that fully met their needs. Care plans were not up to date and inspectors raised concerns that some staff lacked understanding as to the complex needs of people living with dementia.
• A review of medication administration records revealed that people were not always receiving their medicines as prescribed.
• Inspectors raised concerns regarding the providers failure to ensure appropriate maintenance of the building and utility services. These issues have been referred to the Health and Safety Executive. Staff recruitment procedures were not robust.
• The provider was not carrying out relevant checks when they employed staff meaning that staff qualifications and suitability to be able to work with vulnerable adults had not been properly checked.
• Inspectors raised concerns regarding the lack of sufficiently qualified nursing staff on duty.
• The provider did not have an effective system in place to identify, assess and manage the risks to the health, safety and welfare of people living at the home.
• Inspectors identified concerns regarding the registered manager’s ability to respond swiftly and implement improvements to ensure the safety and welfare of residents.

As a result of these findings and the provider’s inability to attract high calibre nursing staff CQC have used their urgent enforcement powers to prevent the home from providing nursing care services. All residents requiring nursing care have now been relocated to alternative placements.

The provider has subsequently decided to close the home Debbie Westhead, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North said:

“Esteem Care Limited is failing to meet the needs of the people living at Alexander Court and it is unacceptable that the provider has allowed the service at to deteriorate in this way.

“We have identified serious concerns that the needs of those residents requiring nursing care are not being met and we have used our urgent powers to prevent the home from providing nursing care services.

“All residents requiring nursing care were safely relocated to alternative placements earlier this month, and we have since been informed by the provider of their intention to close the home. “The safety and welfare of residents is our utmost priority and we are in direct contact with North Yorkshire County Council regarding the action they are taking to ensure that remaining residents are provided with suitable alternative accommodation.

“In the meantime CQC will continue to monitor the provider in line with our regulatory responsibilities”.

Ends

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