Eagle Care Home, Halifax continues to be in special measures to protect people using the service, after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) again rated it as Inadequate following an inspection in July this year.
Eagle Care Home provides accommodation and personal care for up to 33 older people, some of who are living with dementia. Accommodation is provided over two floors with communal areas, including three lounges and a dining room, on the ground floor. There were 23 people using the service when we visited.
This inspection in July was scheduled to check on progress made with concerns identified at the time of a previous inspection, in February earlier this year.
Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North, said:
“People are entitled to services which provide well-led, safe, and effective, high quality care.
“We found the care provided by Eagle Care Home fell short of the standards we expect services to provide.
“Although we found some improvements had been made to the care people received in areas such as safeguarding, activities and the cleanliness of the environment, we found a number of regulatory breaches remained.
“We were very concerned that basic risks to people’s safety were not being managed. For example we found some staff did not know the correct procedures to follow in the event of a fire, and correct administration procedures for giving out medicines was not always followed.
“We also found there were not always enough staff on duty to keep people safe and meet their needs.
“We are now taking further action to protect people and we are working closely with Calderdale Council to ensure that people are safe and get the services they need.”
The full report of the inspection can be found here on CQC’s website.
During this latest inspection CQC found the provider had not taken the necessary action and therefore continued to be in breach of the regulations.
Inspectors found there were not always enough staff on duty to keep people safe and meet their needs. Although the provider told CQC they had worked out they were overstaffed by nine hours, they were not able to provide evidence of how these calculations had been made. There were times during the inspection when staff were not available to meet people's needs and we found shortfalls in the recruitment procedures identified at the previous inspection had not been resolved by the provider.
Medicines were not always managed safely which meant people were at risk of not receiving their medicines when they needed them. A medicines error occurred on the day of the inspection, which was recognised promptly and the correct action taken. However, the correct administration procedures had not been followed and if they had, the error would not have happened.
CQC saw that food and drink for people who got up early had improved and saw people were now offered early breakfasts. However, inspectors still had concerns about how people's nutritional needs were being met as records showed some people were often eating and drinking very little and had lost weight. There was evidence that food and fluid charts were not monitored or reviewed to make sure people were receiving sufficient to eat and drink.
Any regulatory decision that CQC takes is open to challenge by a registered provider through a variety of internal and external appeal processes.
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For further information, please contact Kerri James, CQC Regional Engagement Communications Officer by email kerri.james@cqc.org.uk or by phone on 07464 92 9966.
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