The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken further action to protect people at Swiss Cottage Care Home, after they were again rated inadequate following an inspection in August.
Swiss Cottage Care Home, run by Roseberry Care Centres GB Limited, provides personal and nursing care for up to 85 people. 30 people were living in the home at the time of this inspection. This inspection was intended to follow up on concerns found in previous inspections, including around people’s safety, person-centred care, and poor leadership.
In addition to being again rated inadequate overall, the home has also again been rated inadequate for safe and well-led. Its rating has dropped from requires improvement to inadequate for effective, caring and responsive.
Following this inspection, the home remains in special measures. This means CQC will closely monitor the service to keep people safe.
CQC are also taking further regulatory action to protect people and will report on this when legally able to do so.
Gill Hodgson-Reilly, CQC deputy director of operations in the east of England, said:
“When we inspected Swiss Cottage Care Home, we were deeply disappointed to find leaders hadn’t acted on safety issues we’d raised to them repeatedly in previous inspections, and were still failing to provide good, personalised care.
“We found many people’s care plans were incorrect or contradictory about the most basic information, such as people’s gender, and didn’t contain accurate guidance for staff about people’s individual risks or how to reduce these.
“We saw multiple people in the home weren’t eating enough, but staff weren’t making sure they received additional nutrition or that their food was appealing. We also saw some people couldn’t reach their call bells to call for help, but the service hadn’t taken action to reduce this risk to their safety.
“When things went wrong, the service didn’t make sure lessons were learned or that people were protected in future. For example, the inspection team found leaders had disciplined a staff member accused of abuse but hadn’t submitted a safeguarding referral to the local authority to make sure the incident was properly investigated and people were protected.
“We raised this with the provider during the inspection, but later found they still hadn’t made the safeguarding referral. Inspectors then made the referral themselves to make sure people were being kept safe.
“We’ve told the provider exactly where improvements need to be made and will be monitoring the service closely to make sure people are being cared for safely during this time. We’re also taking further regulatory action which we’ll report on when we’re legally able to do so.”
Inspectors found:
- Some people’s personal hygiene was being neglected, as many people’s rooms had been without hot water for over a month
- People’s personal care information was displayed on walls visible to passers-by, which disrespected their privacy and dignity
- People weren’t supported to have as many choices in their care as possible, and weren't cared for in the least restrictive way possible. Staff didn’t always recognise when people were being restricted unnecessarily, which risks people’s human rights not being respected
- People weren’t always supported to take part in meaningful activities. There were no notable activities for people being cared for in bed
- People were sometimes left alone without their mobility equipment. This reduced their independence and raised their risk of falls
- People and their relatives gave mixed feedback on how safe they felt in the home and how caring staff were.
However:
- People’s relatives said the registered manager was approachable and they were kept up to date
- There were enough staff working in the home, and people’s relatives said this had improved
- People appeared to enjoy spending time in part of the home which was designed to look like a sweetshop.