The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Norton Lodge in Runcorn Cheshire, inadequate and placed the home into special measures to protect people, following inspections in October and November.
Norton Lodge provides personal care to older adults, some of whom are living with dementia.
This inspection was carried out to follow up on a number of concerns raised to CQC around safeguarding and the general management and running of the home.
Following this inspection, the overall rating for the home, as well as the areas of safe and well-led, have moved down from requires improvement to inadequate. The areas of caring and responsive have dropped from good to requires improvement. Effective was re-rated as 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 using its regulatory powers further to protect people.
Karen Knapton, CQC interim deputy director of operations in the north, said:
“When we inspected Norton Lodge, we were concerned to see a lack of strong leadership affecting people using the service, as there weren’t effective processes in place to enable staff to provide safe care.
“Some of the concerns we had previously raised around the safe running of the home still hadn’t been addressed. It was also worrying that we found further issues regarding staffing, risk management and the home’s environment.
“The lack of the right staffing levels meant that people weren’t being kept safe. We saw altercations between two people living in the service, with no staff close by to provide support. There was also an incident where we saw a person almost fall while trying to move without support.
“Leaders had allowed a leak to persist in one person’s room for three months and it was only fixed when our inspectors mentioned it to the manager. Staff told another resident to not use the tap in their sink as the water was too hot making it unsafe.
“The lack of domestic staff meant the home was unclean, and poorly maintained. There were also awful smells around the home which would be unpleasant for people living there.
“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:
- There were concerns about the lack of cleaning staff, which impacted their ability to maintain effective levels of hygiene in the home
- Accidents and safeguarding concerns were recorded but they were not used for learning to implement changes on how a similar incident could be avoided in future
- Staff did not support people who required a diabetic diet. The kitchen staff did not provide an alternative diet as they were not aware they were supposed to
- CQC identified staff were not deployed effectively, particularly during the night when staffing numbers were lower. This meant people were left without supervision for long periods of time
- Whilst people described the staff as lovely and caring, concerns were raised regarding their needs being met in a timely manner
- People and their relatives had identified they were not involved in their care plans, which meant care was not always personalised to meet people’s needs
- People were not involved in their care planning and decision making. Care plans did not always contain enough information for staff to support people safely
- There was little engagement or conversation between staff and people. The home’s leaders didn’t provide stimulation, activities and community engagement to aid people’s wellbeing and give them a sense of purpose.
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the next few days.