The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated a Romford care home inadequate and placed it in special measures.
CQC inspected Chaseview Care Home, off Dagenham Road in Rush Green, due to concerns about its staffing levels and infection control, as well as the environment and overall safety of the service.
The inspection found the home, which can care for up to 120 older people including those living with dementia, was not providing standards of care people have a right to expect.
In addition to rating it inadequate overall following the inspection, CQC rated the home inadequate for being safe, effective, responsive to people’s needs and well-led. CQC rated it requires improvement for being caring.
The service, which is run by HC-One, was previously rated requires improvement overall.
Due to the poor care inspectors found, CQC placed the service in special measures. This means it is being kept under close monitoring and it will be subject to further enforcement action if improvement is not made.
James Frewin, CQC head of inspection for adult social care, said:
“Standards of care at Chaseview Care Home put people using the service at risk of harm. This is unacceptable.
“People’s medicines weren’t well managed, and staff had not received training to support people’s specific health conditions – including for diabetes and epilepsy.
“This situation was worsened because the service lacked enough staff to meet people’s needs.
“We also found staff did not always answer people’s call bells when they may have needed urgent assistance. This put people at risk of coming to avoidable harm.
“Issues at the home stemmed from a failure to use good systems and processes to identify issues and ensure people received safe care that managed all risks to their health and wellbeing.
“We are keeping Chaseview Care Home under close review and we will not hesitate to take further action if we are not assured it has made significant improvement. This could include requiring the home’s closure.”
The inspection found:
- HC-One’s systems to audit the quality of the service were not adequate to alert it to concerns and issues. Audits had not identified areas which CQC picked up during the inspection, meaning people were at risk of harm. Where audits had happened, action was not always taken.
- Records and risk assessments were not complete and accurate, meaning people were not always supported in a way that was safe, and people's care plans contained conflicting and confusing information about their mental capacity.
- Systems to safely store, administer and record the use of medicines were not always followed, and medicines were not always administered at their prescribed times or in line with infection control procedures.
- Agency staff were not always given appropriate training and handover to understand people's care needs.
- Care plans didn’t contain any information to guide staff as to how to support people to safely manage medical conditions, such as diabetes and Parkinson's disease. This was worsened as service had not identified staff required training around individual health needs and conditions, such as diabetes and epilepsy.
- Inspectors were not assured there were enough staff to meet people's needs.
- Call bells were not always answered quickly and were sometimes muted or switched off without staff attending to people to find out what they needed.
- Supervision meetings with staff were inconsistent, and staff were not always given opportunities to discuss their progress or issues.
- People were not always treated with dignity and respect, and their cultural needs were not always respected.
- Some people told inspectors their personal care needs were not always met.
- There were very few social activities.
- HC-One had failed to make improvements after it was advised what it need to address following previous inspections.
However:
- Staff were recruited safely.
- Most staff had completed training in the areas the service identified as mandatory, such as safeguarding and moving and handling.
- Most people told inspectors staff were kind.