Dinsdale Lodge Care Home, Cleveland, is rated as Inadequate by CQC

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Dinsdale Lodge Care Home in Hartlepool, Cleveland that it must make improvements or face further enforcement action.

During an unannounced inspection in December 2014, inspectors found that the registered provider was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, responsive or well led.

A full report of this inspection has been published on the CQC website this week.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating to help people choose care. Overall, Dinsdale Lodge Care Home has been rated as Inadequate.

Inspectors identified a number of areas in which improvements were required, including:

• Inspectors found that people living in the home were not kept safe due to poor medicines management.
• Checks carried out on staff as part of the home’s recruitment procedures, had not always been fully completed prior to their employment.
• People were being deprived of their liberty without appropriate authorisation and staff had limited knowledge and understanding about the Mental Capacity Act.
• Staff training was not always up to date, and records showed that basic training required to provide safe appropriate care had not been completed.
• Care plans were updated regularly, however they did not always include sufficient detail and were often repetitive.
• Following our last inspection in September 2014 the provider had introduced a system of checks and audits to assess the quality of care provided. However, these had only just been implemented so it was too early to assess their effectiveness.

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

“Whilst we are pleased to see the provider has made some improvements since the last inspection and received some positive feedback from people living at the home and their relatives, further work is needed to address some continued areas of concern. Staff training, recruitment procedures and medicines management are all priority areas and we have made it clear to the provider where they must take action.

“We will return to the home to check that the necessary improvements have been made. If not - we will take further action to make sure that people living there receive care which is safe, effective, caring and responsive to their needs.”

When we propose to take enforcement action, our decision is open to challenge by the provider through a variety of internal and external appeal processes. We will publish a further report on any action we take.

Ends

For further information please contact CQC Regional Communications Officer Mark Humphreys on 0191 233 3519. Alternatively, the CQC press office can be contacted on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07789 876508.