The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Cherry Lodge in Druids Heath, Birmingham, inadequate and placed it in special measures following an inspection in November.
The inspection was prompted by a review of the information CQC held about the service. Initially a focused inspection took place to look at the concerns identified, however during the inspection further issues were found relating to the care and support people were receiving, so the scope was widened to a full comprehensive inspection.
Cherry Lodge is an adapted residential care home providing personal care and accommodation to up to 46 older people, people living with dementia and people with mental health needs.
Following this inspection, the care home’s overall rating has dropped from requires improvement to inadequate. Well-led and safe have also dropped from requires improvement to inadequate. Caring and responsive have dropped from good to inadequate, and effective remains rated requires improvement.
The service is now in special measures which means it will be kept under review by CQC and re-inspected to check sufficient improvements have been made.
Sonia Brooks, CQC deputy director of operations in the midlands, said:
“When we inspected Cherry Lodge it was extremely disappointing to see a deterioration in the level of care being provided to people. We found risks weren’t being effectively managed to keep people safe, and in some cases where they had been identified, staff didn’t have the information to reduce risks to people.
“The service wasn’t working collaboratively with people or their loved ones consistently, and care wasn’t being planned in a way which was person centred.
“There was nothing in the way of creative activity, while our team was there people had been given pictures to colour in. This was without working out if this would be an activity they would enjoy. No one was given anything to lean on and one person fell asleep during the activity. We saw most people living at the home spent the majority of their day seated in communal areas, and a professional who visited regularly told us, this is what they often saw, people just sitting in a room with the television on and music on. This is unacceptable and people living in the service should be encouraged to live fulfilled lives.
“Cherry Lodge has supplied plans regarding how they intend to implement the improvements needed. When we return, if we are not assured people are receiving the care they deserve, we will not hesitate to take regulatory action to ensure they do.”
Inspectors found:
- People were not always supported to receive safe care. For example, one person's care record stated they required food to be prepared to a modified texture. However, the person was served food that had not been safely prepared. Inspectors immediately flagged this with the manager, who took the person's meal away as it presented a risk to them
- Observations between some staff and people demonstrated that residents were not consistently supported in a caring or empathic manner. We saw numerous occasions where staff had missed the opportunity to communicate with people
- There was an altercation between two people living at the home. Staff and a relative said this occasionally happened between people using the service. The provider had not reviewed the culture to enable positive relationships between people living at the home
- One person told staff that they wanted to get up from their chair in the lounge. The person walked with a zimmer frame and needed staff with them, but inspectors saw staff tell the person repeatedly to sit down
- One person had complained in January 2022 about not being able to go out and they had escalated their concerns to the local MP and local authority. The management team had told the local authority, that this person had recently gone out shopping. This was not an adequate response to the person's complaint about going out overall as they wished. The theme of this complaint was identified as a concern at this inspection. The complaints process had not been used, on this occasion, to drive improvement in the service as far as possible.
However:
- People were supported by staff who understood how to recognise and escalate safeguarding concerns should they have any
- People received safe support with their daily medicines and checks were carried out on staff to ensure they were competent to administer medications.