St Marks Court, Gateshead, is rated as Inadequate by CQC

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told St Marks Court in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear that it must make improvements or face further enforcement action.

During an unannounced inspection in November 2014, inspectors found that the home on Spilt Crow Road, was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive or well led. Inspectors found that improvements required as a result of a previous inspection in July 2014 had not been made, and they also identified further concerns.

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 St Marks Court has been rated as Inadequate.

CQC has issued the provider with a warning notice setting a deadline for improvements in relation to staffing levels, staff support and the assessment and monitoring of service quality.

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

• There were not enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet people's needs.
• Staff were not always provided with sufficient training and supervision.
• There was a lack of staff knowledge on how to identify or respond to the risk of abuse. There was a limited understanding amongst staff about the Mental Capacity Act (2005) which meant it was not consistently followed. As a result people were at risk of being denied their human rights.
• Records and assessments lacked key information to enable staff to deliver safe and appropriate care.
• The provider did not have an effective system in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received.
• People’s nutritional needs were not always being met and inspectors were concerned that where people had lost weight and were not supported to maintain their health, little or no action had been taken to address this.

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

“We found that the service provided at St Marks Court had not improved enough and many of the concerns raised during our last inspection had not been fully addressed. We have told the provider that they must take action to resolve the issues we have identified.

“Although we did see some caring interactions between staff and people living in the home, the lack of staff meant the residents were at risk of not having their needs met. In addition staff were not being supported to carry out their role and action needs to be taken to address both these issues as a priority.

“It is unacceptable that the provider has allowed the service at St Marks Court to deteriorate in this way. The people for whom they are providing a service are entitled to services that are of a high quality, caring and compassionate.

“We have made it clear that 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.”

Ends

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