The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Alderwood L.L.A. Limited – Cransley in Kettering, inadequate, and placed it in special measures to protect people following an inspection in October.
Alderwood Cransley is a residential care home providing personal care to up to six people. It provides support to autistic people and people with learning disabilities. At the time of this inspection there were six people using the service.
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about management, safeguarding, as well as staffing.
Following the inspection, the overall rating for the home, as well as being safe and well-led has dropped from good to inadequate. Effective and caring have declined from good to requires improvement. Being responsive has dropped from outstanding to inadequate.
The service will remain in special measures, which means it will continue to 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, even if this results in the closure of the service.
CQC has also taken additional enforcement action, which will be reported on when legally able to do so.
Inspectors found:
- There was an identified increased risk of harm to people in the local community, and Alderwood didn’t take enough action to protect people against this. This led to a significant incident where a person and others experienced psychological and physical harm in the community
- Staff used blanket restrictive practices (restrictions applied across a group of people) without ensuring safeguards were in place to protect people's rights. For example, staff used verbal firm, authoritative commands and pictorial cues such as telling people to put their hands down, instructing people what to do and not to do
- People's access to food was restricted and controlled by staff, as snack boxes were being locked in the manager's office. The manager told CQC these were people's favourite treats used as motivators and rewards. There was no written guidance, mental capacity assessments or best interest decisions about this
- One staff member described a person as stubborn and 'acting up' if they did not 'get their own way'. This was not respectful of the person's rights or empathetic to their needs and experiences.
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the next few days.