CQC requires improvements at a care home in North Lincolnshire

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Abbey House UK Limited that they must take immediate action to improve standards of care at St George’s Care Home in Brickhills, Broughton, North Lincolnshire.

This follows an unannounced visit to the home in July 2014 which was carried out as part of CQCs scheduled inspection programme.

Visiting inspectors found that the home was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive or well led; and all ten 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:

• Care and treatment was not planned and delivered in a way that ensured people's needs were fully met.
• Safeguarding procedures were not robust and inspectors found that some incidents of concern had not been reported to the local authority safeguarding team or to CQC as required.
• People were not protected from the risk of infection because people were not cared for in a clean, hygienic environment.
• The provider had not taken steps to ensure that care was being provided in a safe environment that was suitably designed and adequately maintained.
• Checks carried out on staff as part of the providers recruitment procedures had not been fully completed before staff began work at the home.
• There were not enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet people's needs.
• The provider did not have an effective system in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received, and inspectors raised concerns regarding the financial viability of the service.

As a result of these findings CQC is currently considering the need for further regulatory action against Abbey House UK Limited and will report in due course on any action they do decide to take.

In the meantime the home is working with the CQC with regards to the actions that they intend to take to make the required improvements. The provider has submitted an action plan and CQC will be closely monitoring its implementation.

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

“The failings at St Georges Care Home are a real concern and we’re considering the need for further action against Abbey House UK Limited – although we cannot discuss the nature of that action any further at this stage for legal reasons.

“We’ve shared our concerns with the Local Authority Safeguarding Team and Health and Safety Officer, and have told Abbey House UK Limited very clearly where improvements must be made.

“The people living at St George’s are entitled to receive services which are safe, effective, caring, well led, and responsive to their needs. The provider should have systems in place to monitor the quality of the service, and it is of significant concern that Abbey House UK Limited did not have such systems in place to halt such a deterioration in standards.

“We’ll continue to monitor the home very closely in liaison with the local authority to ensure that residents are not at risk of immediate harm, and will report further on the action we are taking in due course.”

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

Ends

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