The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has dropped the rating for Nutbush Cottage from good to inadequate following inspections in April and May.
Nutbush Cottage is a care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to four autistic people or people with a learning disability. CQC inspected the service in response to concerns about people’s safety and a lack of oversight by leaders.
In addition to dropping from good to inadequate overall, the service’s ratings for safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led have also dropped from good to inadequate.
As a result, the service is now in special measures, which means it will be kept under review by CQC.
Rebecca Bauers, CQC’s director for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said:
“When we inspected Nutbush Cottage, we were very disappointed to find leaders weren’t supporting staff to care for people safely and had allowed a culture to develop which was focused on routines instead of people.
“Leaders didn’t give staff effective training on how to support and care for autistic people and people with learning disabilities. While we saw staff show kindness to people, they didn’t always treat them as equals.
“People weren’t always given choices about what they wanted to do, and staff didn’t know how to work with people who didn’t communicate verbally. Inspectors saw people become distressed when staff blocked them leaving their rooms without this being part of their care plan or legally approved.
“Leaders also didn’t make sure there were enough staff to keep people safe. On occasion staff worked 48 hour shifts and said they often fell asleep when caring for people overnight. Leaders did not have oversight of this and had not taken effective action to improve this.
“This is unacceptable, and people have a right to safety, respect and choices in their home. We’ll continue to monitor the service closely to ensure improvements are made and won’t hesitate to take further action if we’re not assured people are receiving safe care.”
Inspectors also found:
- The service didn’t always track people’s health needs. One person had to be treated for a loose tooth and ulcers in their mouth and inspectors found no record of staff checking their oral health before this happened
- Staff didn’t always interact with people in caring ways and described people’s anxiety in ways that lacked empathy
- People’s dignity and privacy weren’t always respected. The main bathroom had no lock on the door and one person had had no curtain for several months
- People weren’t supported to set goals or develop their independence
- People were at risk of receiving incorrect medicines because staff didn’t know how to manage medication safely
- Leaders didn’t know about issues in the home, so hadn’t taken action to improve people’s care.
However:
- People said the staff and management team were approachable and understanding, as did their loved ones and legal representatives.