CQC tells Voyage to improve services at Bridgwater care home

28 June 2011

The owners of a care home at Bridgwater in Somerset have been told they must take action to ensure that people are protected from unsafe or inappropriate care.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission found that Home First and Foremost Limited, part of the Voyage care group, was failing to meet eight of the essential standards of quality and safety. The home in Church Road, Wembdon, provides care for up to 13 people who have a learning difficulty and may have a physical disability as well.

The report identifies concerns with the care and welfare of residents, safeguarding arrangements, staff training, and systems to assess and monitor the quality of care.

CQC has told the provider to produce plans to show how it intends to achieve compliance. Providers of care services have a legal responsibility to make sure they are meeting the essential standards of quality and safety.

The CQC review followed concerns that were identified during a recent safeguarding investigation. Somerset County Council, NHS Somerset and the home’s managers have been working with CQC to ensure that the care being provided to residents is safe and secure.

Inspectors visited the home in March to observe how people were being cared for. Main areas of concern include:

• Care and welfare of people
  People did not always receive care and support in line with their assessed needs and preferences. Staff did not always know what was written in care plans, and due to inconsistent care planning people were not protected from unsafe or inappropriate care.
• Safeguarding people from abuse
  Inspectors said that none of the staff they met had an understanding of who may require restraint or when it could be used. People were not always protected from the negative effects of others’ behaviour.
• Supporting staff
  A significant proportion of the staff had not been appropriately trained, or required updated training. Staff were not properly supervised or appraised.
• Assessing and monitoring the quality of services
  The inspectors found no evidence to show that the home learned from serious incidents. Risks to people were not properly managed and the home had not been monitored effectively by the provider.

Bernadette Hanney, acting Regional Director of CQC in the South West, said that inspectors would now keep the care home under review while improvements were made.

She said: "It is worrying that this is not the first time that these issues have been raised. Somerset County Council carried out a thorough review of this home in 2010 as part of a previous safeguarding investigation. Many of the concerns raised during that review, and apparently acted upon at the time, have resurfaced.

“We found problems with some essential requirements – care planning, assessing risks, poor communication within the home and staff knowledge of care plans.

"It was only after a number of serious incidents at the home that the provider started an in-depth review of care. If their routine monitoring had been more robust the issues that have caused us serious concern should not have developed.

“Our inspectors will return in the near future and if we find that the home is not making progress we will consider further action."

Ends

For further information please contact the CQC press office on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.

Notes to editors