18 April 2011
Willowbanks is not meeting six out of 16 essential standards.
Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors who visited Willowbanks Specialist Nursing Home in Bitteswell, Leicestershire found that it was failing to meet six out of 16 essential standards of quality and safety.
Providers of care services have a legal responsibility to make sure they are meeting all the essential standards of quality and safety.
The inspectors visited the home in February following previous inspections this year and in November 2010. They were not assured that all of the home’s plans for putting right previously identified problems were being implemented.
The CQC report, which is published today, highlights six areas where inspectors have significant concerns:
Safe and appropriate care
Inspectors found that people who use the service have not been protected against the risk of receiving inappropriate and unsafe care. For example, some care plans omitted important information and contained conflicting information.
Food and drink
Assessment, care planning and record keeping practices did not demonstrate that people were protected from the risks of inadequate nutrition and dehydration.
Managing medicine
People had been put at risk of harm because the home did not always have the right medicines available.
The care environment
Inspectors had concerns about fire safety and delays in fixing a fault with a bath.
Staff numbers
Staffing problems had prevented the home from making sustained improvements.
Staff training and supervision
Concerns had been raised about the competence of some staff. Not enough had been done to improve the supervision and training of staff.
CQC Regional Director, Andrea Gordon, said: “The quality and safety of care provided at this home is simply not good enough. We are working with the organisations that have placed people at Willowbanks to ensure the safety of those people.
“The home’s owners are clear about our concerns and our proposals for ensuring the safety of people who use services. For legal reasons we can’t say more at this point.
“We have a range of enforcement powers we can use, including prosecution, closure, or restriction of services.
”The home has told us that it has taken steps, including recruiting more staff, to improve the care provided. We will be checking progress in the near future.”
Any regulatory decision that CQC takes is open to challenge by a registered person through a variety of internal and external appeal processes.
Ends
For media enquires, please contact Nicola Stewart on 0121 600 5344, CQC press office on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.
Notes to editors
About the CQC: Snippet for press releases
About the Care Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.
We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.
We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.
Read the report
Read the reports from our checks on standards at Willowbanks Specialist Nursing Home.