10 November 2011
A care home in Hampshire, which was failing to comply with national standards, has closed down.
Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission found that the care provided at Melbury House in Farnborough was falling short of the essential standards of quality and safety people should be able to expect.
After the inspections the provider, ACH of London LLP, applied to voluntarily cancel its registration with CQC. Alternative care was arranged for all residents before the service closed.
Inspectors had found that Melbury House was not compliant with five essential standards covering a range of concerns, including staffing skills, low staffing levels, poor documentation and people’s complaints not being recorded or resolved. The main concerns included:
- Care and welfare: Health and social care professionals told inspectors they had concerns about how prospective residents were assessed prior to admission to the home. They also raised concerns in respect of poor care planning. Risk assessments were not specific nor detailed enough in respect of each of the residents and did not identify individual areas of risk for each resident.
- Supporting staff: A number of staff said that they had not undertaken any training in respect of managing challenging behaviours.
- Monitoring service provision: Arrangements to monitor the quality of service provided were ineffective. As a consequence, people were not protected from the risk of harm to their health, safety and welfare.
- Notification of incidents: People could not be confident that important events that affected their health, safety and welfare were properly reported to the Care Quality Commission so that action could be taken.
Roxy Boyce, Regional Director of CQC in the South East, said, “The service provided by Melbury House fell far short of the standards people have a right to expect.
“We found clear evidence that the provider was not maintaining essential standards of quality and safety, meaning that people were exposed to significant risk of poor care.
“It is always a matter of concern when a care home closes and people’s lives are disrupted but Melbury House could not continue as it was. Following our inspection, this provider took the decision to close the home immediately and arrangements were made to move residents to other locations where care was of a better standard.”
Ends
For further information please contact the CQC press office on 0207 448 9239 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.