The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Parkhill Nursing Home inadequate and placed it in special measures to protect people following an inspection in July.
Parkhill Nursing Home, run by Belmont Parkhill Limited, is a care home providing people with personal and nursing care. The service can support up to 38 people. At the time of this inspection there were 26 people living at the home.
The inspection was prompted in part due to numerous concerns CQC received about the service including safeguarding, staffing and management arrangements.
The service’s overall rating has declined from requires improvement to inadequate, as well as the ratings for being safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
The service has been placed in special measures, which means it will be kept under close review by CQC to keep people safe and it will continue to be monitored to check sufficient improvements are being made. CQC has also used its regulatory powers further.
Alison Chilton, CQC Deputy Director of Operations in the north, said:
“When we inspected Parkhill Nursing Home, we were concerned to find ineffective leadership and a shortage of experienced, permanent staff, having a serious impact on all areas of people’s care. Residents also told us the staffing levels, and high agency usage made them feel unsafe and that there was no consistency in their care.
“The home smelled unpleasant, in part because staff weren’t always able to support people with their personal hygiene as their time was so stretched. Staff also left people in continence aids for a long time and couldn’t support them with personal care, or with brushing their teeth for the same reasons.
“Staff didn’t always treat people kindly or with compassion. We saw some people who chose to stay in their room or were cared for in bed didn’t have the same level of interaction with staff, or access to food, drink, and activities, as other residents. We also saw that staff didn’t always ask people for consent when providing support, or involve people and their families in decisions about their care.
“Leaders need to make sure there are enough staff on duty to provide people with person-centred, dignified care.
“People experienced avoidable harm because staff didn’t understand their responsibilities to protect people from the risk of abuse, including working with external healthcare professionals. Three people told us that they didn’t feel safe living at the home and had concerns that someone was entering their room at night. We raised several safeguarding concerns to the local authority safeguarding team following our inspection.
"We have told Parkhill Nursing Home where we expect to see rapid and widespread improvements and will continue to monitor them closely to keep people safe while this happens. We won’t hesitate to use our regulatory powers further if people are not receiving the care they have a right to expect.”
Inspectors found:
- Staff did not maintain accurate records and information about people’s needs
- Leaders were not managing safety risks well, including taking action when incidents happened and sharing lessons learned. There was little evidence improvements implemented were effective and embedded in the long term.
- The home environment was not suitable for people who lived there who had dementia. It had not been designed to allow people to have maximum independence.
- People’s needs and care plans were not regularly assessed and updated.
However:
- Staff spoke positively about the deputy manager, who was new in the post.
- The service was working with stakeholders to identify and address areas for improvement.
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the next few days.