The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Charnwood Care Home in Carlton, inadequate, placed it in special measures and issued a warning notice to protect people following an inspection in July and August.
Charnwood Care Home, run by Divine Rock Care Limited, provides personal and nursing care to people, including some living with dementia. The service can support up to 88 people. At the time of this inspection there were 37 people living in the home.
This inspection was prompted due to serious concerns raised with CQC from the local authority and Integrated Care Board (ICB) around medication, staffing and poor management.
During the inspection these concerns were substantiated and CQC found four breaches of regulation, including concerns around safe care and treatment, safeguarding, consent, and management.
As well as the home being rated inadequate overall, as have the ratings for being effective, caring, responsive and well-led. It has been rated requires improvement for being safe. This was the first inspection since the service was registered.
Following the inspection, CQC issued the service with two warning notices to focus their attention on making significant improvements around effective management, safe care, staffing, staff training and record keeping. CQC have also told the service to provide us with action plans to explain how improvements will be made in a timely manner.
It has also been placed in special measures, meaning it will be kept under review and closely monitored to ensure people are kept safe whilst improvements are made.
Steven Paisley, CQC deputy director of operations in the midlands, said:
When we inspected Charnwood Care Home, it was concerning to see a lack of strong leadership, and a culture that didn’t encourage high-quality care. This meant people living at the home weren’t receiving safe, dignified or person-centred care.
We found leaders hadn’t put effective processes in place to ensure staff were trained properly and adequate staffing levels were in place. When we spoke to staff, they told us this was frustrating as untrained staff would provide care, but this often wasn’t done properly which could put people at risk of harm, and it created extra work for the more experienced staff
People weren’t always safe from abuse. One person told us staff were rough when caring for them which had caused bruising. Staff had recorded this bruising two months ago, however, hadn’t taken any action to refer it to the safeguarding team. Another person explained that a staff member had hit them twice. We reported this to the management team to investigate but when we returned two days later, little action had been taken. This put people at serious risk of abuse and must be addressed as a priority.
Additionally, people’s wellbeing was at risk during hot weather as there was no plan in place to protect them. For example, when we were at the home, the temperature in the building was over 30 degrees Celsius. Staff explained that ice lollies had been offered to residents in one building, but not in another, or to people with diabetes. This meant people were exposed to the risk of harm from dehydration and other health issues.
We have told Charnwood Care 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 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:
- Safety risks to people were not managed well.
- Staff did not have clear written guidance or training on how to support people safely.
- The home and garden environment were not safe for people.
- Staff did not keep clear records on what care was provided to people.
- Staff did not always work effectively together, or with external health and social care professionals.
- People did not consistently receive kind and caring support.
- There was limited access to activities inside and outside of the care home.
- Management had not acted effectively on concerns raised by the CQC.
However:
- The home was clean and staff had access to personal protective equipment to prevent the spread of infection.
- Medicines were managed safely.
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the next few days.