Solent Grange Nursing Home, Isle of Wight, rated as Inadequate by CQC

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told London Residential Health Care Limited that it must make urgent improvements at Solent Grange Nursing Home, Wootton, Isle of Wight.

During an unannounced inspection in October, inspectors found that the home in Staplers Road was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs or well led. As a result of the inspection, CQC took action to place a condition on the registration of the home to prevent further admissions.

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

A full report from the inspection has been published on the CQC website: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-115624977.

The report identifies a number of areas in which improvements were required, including:

• People told inspectors contradictory things about the service they received. While some people were happy and inspectors observed staff showing care, compassion and respect; others were not happy and inspectors heard staff using inappropriate and patronising language. Some staff did not listen to people properly, which resulted in them not receiving the support they wanted.
• Inspectors found there was a wide variation in the quality of care being delivered across the service, so people could not rely on care being delivered in a consistent way.
• People’s safety was being compromised in a number of areas. The arrangements that were in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse were not adequate as incidents of unexplained bruising were not reported to the local safeguarding authority for them to investigate. The management of risks relating to people choking or falling were not effective as care plans contained contradictory information and appropriate action was not always taken. This put people at risk of serious harm.
• The provider did not have a system to assess the number of staff needed and there were not enough staff on most shifts. Recruitment procedures did not make sure that staff employed had the necessary skills and were suitable to work with vulnerable people. There was a lack of information for staff about when to administer medicines that people used on an “as required” basis and the administration of people’s creams and ointments was not always recorded. Infection control guidance had not been followed in relation to the environment, processes used to clean soiled linen and staff practices. This meant people were not protected from the risk of infection.
• People were not supported to eat and drink to ensure good health. Records of what people had eaten and drunk were not fully completed. People’s weight was not monitored effectively and action was not always taken when they lost weight. This put them at risk of malnutrition and dehydration.

Adrian Hughes, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the south, said:

“London Residential Health Care Limited has failed to provide the people living at Solent Grange Nursing Home a home which is safe, effective, caring, responsive to their needs or well led.”

“At our recent inspection we identified serious concerns in a number of areas. This included a varying response to the needs of the people living in the home resulting in a wide variation in the quality of care being delivered. This meant that those living there could not rely on care being delivered in a consistent way. We were so concerned that we took action to stop any further residents being admitted at the present time – and we expect the provider to take urgent action to fix the problems we saw.

“We will follow up on the action we have required the provider to take and will take further action if they have not.”

Ends

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