The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has dropped the rating for Windmill House, in Wymondham, from requires improvement to inadequate following an inspection in May, and placed the service into special measures to protect people.
Windmill House is a residential care home for up to 59 older people and is run by Runwood Homes Limited. This inspection was carried out to follow up on the progress of improvements they were told to make when CQC issued them a warning notice in November last year due to safety concerns.
As well as Windmill House’s overall rating dropping, its ratings for how safe and well-led it is have also dropped from requires improvement to inadequate. This inspection didn’t rate how caring, responsive or effective the service is, so these remain requires improvement, requires improvement, and good respectively.
CQC has placed the service into special measures in order to focus the provider’s attention on making rapid and widespread improvements. CQC will closely monitor the service during this time to keep people safe and will inspect again to assess if improvements are made.
Gill Hodgson-Reilly, CQC deputy director of operations in the East of England, said:
“When we inspected Windmill House we were very disappointed to find people’s safety was being affected by many of the same issues CQC warned the provider about last year. Leaders had failed to act, and people were still being cared for in an unsafe and undignified environment by staff who didn’t always know how to meet their needs.
“The home was visibly unclean, and inspectors repeatedly found people left with soiled bedding, as well as a damaged toilet that was leaking onto the floor. We also saw people hadn’t always been supported to clean their teeth and fingernails, all of which raises people’s risk of infection, and doesn’t allow them to live in a dignified way that most people are able to take for granted. It was also concerning that people told us staff weren’t always kind to them.
“We were also concerned to find leaders hadn’t made sure staff knew how to meet people’s individual needs as people had generic care plans which didn’t account for their own requirements and preferences.
“We saw no evidence leaders had addressed many of these risks with staff following our inspection last year, and they reported more improvements than we found evidence for. This shows a concerning lack of oversight, which meant they were unable to identify ongoing issues and develop solutions.
“We’ll continue to monitor the service closely to ensure significant improvements are made and won’t hesitate to take further action if we’re not assured people are receiving the safe and dignified care they deserve.”
Inspectors also found:
- People said they felt safe in the service, but that staff didn’t always treat them with kindness
- The service had an arrangement with a local GP to regularly test people’s blood glucose levels, but this wasn’t happening regularly. Leaders needed to be making sure people were receiving these checks in order to reduce their risk from diabetes
- People with dementia could access objects they could accidentally hurt themselves with, such as razors and prescription creams, because these weren’t stored safely
- The Environmental Health Department had lowered Windmill House’s food hygiene rating to one star in May, which means major improvement is necessary
- Leaders didn’t always ensure staff had the skills needed to give people good care. There were gaps in recruitment records and competency checks
- Leaders didn’t always support staff with feedback and specialist training to improve the care they gave people.
However:
- Staff mainly supported people to have as many choices as possible in their care
- People’s loved ones said they felt comfortable raising concerns to the service.