The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Stoneyford Care Home in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, inadequate and placed the home into special measures to protect people, following an inspection in July.
Stoneyford Care Home, run by Stoneyford Sc Ltd, is a care home providing personal care and support to older people and people living with dementia.
This inspection was carried out to follow up on concerns raised with CQC from a whistleblower regarding staffing and the quality of care being provided.
Following this inspection, the overall rating for the home, as well as the areas of safe, effective, responsive, caring and well-led, have been rated inadequate. The service was previously rated as good overall, as well as for being safe, caring, effective and responsive. Well-led was rated requires improvement.
The service has been placed in special measures which means it will be kept under close review by CQC to keep people safe and it will be monitored to check sufficient improvements have been made. CQC is also using its regulatory powers further.
Steven Paisley, CQC interim deputy director of operations in the midlands, said:
When we inspected Stoneyford Care Home, it was disappointing to see a home that wasn’t well managed which was reflected in the home’s culture and resulted in people being placed at risk of harm and not receiving proper care. Leaders acknowledged the issues we raised and appointed a new manager.
People often had to shout and bang objects on tables to gain staff attention due to communal areas of the home being left unsupervised for long periods of time. One person had to wait a while to be assisted to the toilet by a staff member. The management team acknowledged this issue and took action to improve staff availability.
Some people felt scared due to safety issues but were fearful of negative repercussions if they voiced their concerns which is really concerning in a place they call home where they should be happy, safe and comfortable.
Staff weren’t carrying out basic hygiene and infection control tasks, which placed people at risk as well as making the home an unpleasant place to spend time due to strong odours from things like urine soaked bedding in a bedroom.
We have told leaders where we expect to see rapid, and continued improvements and will continue to monitor the home closely to keep people safe during this time. We will return to check on their progress and won’t hesitate to use our regulatory powers further if people aren’t receiving the care they have a right to expect.
Inspectors found:
- Staff weren’t knowledgeable about people’s identified risks or appropriate use of restraint.
- Processes and care plans in place didn’t accurately identify risks to people or reflect people’s wishes.
- Staff were unclear about the management structure within the home and some staff said didn’t know who their direct line manager was.
- People didn’t feel safe due to low staffing levels within the home.
- Due to role changes made by the provider there weren’t enough staff to ensure cleaning within the kitchen could be completed daily.
- Leaders didn’t provide staff with appropriate support or supervision.
- Medical waste such as sharps boxes were stored in communal lounges which people could easily access and come to harm, however, when concerns were raised, management took immediate action to remove inappropriate medical waste storage.
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the next few days.