The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken action at Olive Row Care Home in Kettering, Northamptonshire, following an assessment in March, which sees the care home’s overall rating drop from good to inadequate.
The care home, run by Northamptonshire Care Limited, is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 54 people. At the time of the assessment, there were 40 people using the service.
The assessment was prompted in part due to concerns CQC received about poor care and lack of effective management at the service.
Following this assessment, as well as the homes’ overall rating dropping from good to inadequate, as have its ratings for being safe and effective. Its ratings for being caring, responsive and well-led have dropped from good to requires improvement.
Following this assessment, CQC imposed urgent conditions to stop any new admissions at the service, as it believed people were at the risk of harm. It will be kept under close review by CQC to keep people safe and it will continue to monitor to check sufficient improvements are being made. If CQC doesn’t see rapid and widespread improvements, further action will be taken.
Craig Howarth, CQC deputy director of operations in the midlands, said:
“When we assessed Olive Row Care Home, it was concerning to see a lack of strong leadership, and the culture they created didn’t provide high-quality care. This was affecting people living at the home because there weren’t good enough processes in place to enable staff to provide safe, dignified care.
“We found people weren’t always safeguarded from abuse. Staff failed to record or report all incidents to the safeguarding team. For example, people had bruises that weren’t consistent with what had been recorded and there wasn’t evidence of any follow up investigation reported to find out what happened.
“We found the provider and staff didn’t support people to get out of bed for days at a time, putting them at risk of worsening mobility. One person told us they’d been in bed so long, that when they do get the chance to get out of bed, they get tired quickly and their back feels weaker. Another person told us they would need physiotherapy to get strong enough to use their wheelchair again.
“Additionally, we found staff didn’t always treat people with kindness, compassion and dignity. One person told us, when they asked staff to support them to use the toilet, staff told them to relieve themselves while they were in their bed. We saw another person constantly calling out for staff which was ignored. No one checked on the person, even though they had a medical condition which could cause pain, but they weren’t given regular pain relief.
“What we found at this assessment was completely unacceptable. Following the issues we identified, we've taken action and placed conditions on the home, to stop the home from admitting any more people until we can see improvements have been made.
“We will continue to monitor the service closely to keep people safe while they make improvements. We will return to check on their progress and won’t hesitate to take further action if people are not receiving the care they have a right to expect.”
Inspectors found:
- The provider failed to have processes to ensure that learning happened when things went wrong
- Equipment designed to support peoples’ needs and to keep people safe was not always being used appropriately
- People received care from staff that had not received the training and supervision required to carry out their role
- The provider failed to manage medicines safely
- People’s needs had not always been assessed or reviewed. People’s risk assessments and care plans did not reflect peoples’ current needs
- Staff did not always communicate well with people, which left people feeling frustrated and not listened to
- People were not in control of the planning of their care and support. We received mixed feedback from people and their relatives in relation to being listened to when raising concerns or complaint
- We were not assured that all concerns and complaints were actioned and addressed to ensure people’s experiences improved.