The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Woodlands Lodge Care Home in Hoyland, Barnsley, inadequate and placed the home into special measures to protect people, following an inspection in October.
Woodlands Lodge Care Home is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 54 people. There were 24 people living at the home at the time of inspection.
This inspection was carried out to follow up on concerns raised with CQC from the local authority regarding people’s safety and the quality of care being provided. Inspectors looked at the areas of safe and well-led.
Following this inspection, the overall rating for the home, as well as the areas of safe and well led, have gone down from requires improvement to inadequate. The areas of caring, effective and remain good overall from their previous inspection.
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.
Alan Stephenson, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said:
When we inspected Woodlands Lodge, it was disappointing to see a home that wasn’t well managed which was reflected in their culture and resulted in people being placed at risk of harm and not receiving proper care.
Staff found the frequent management changes unsettling which caused poor morale and impacted on the quality of people’s care due to inconsistent oversight. Interim managers told us that there was no analysis of accidents or incidents, but they had started to look at how this process could be improved.
It was concerning that staff weren’t supporting people’s care needs in a timely way, for example one person had to wait 45 minutes to be assisted to the toilet. People at risk of falls were left unsupported for long periods of time which placed them at an increased risk of injury if they tried to move on their own.
Leaders didn’t put good systems in place around people’s care plans. For example, people at risk of choking didn’t have care plans in place to indicate to staff they required a modified diet which could place them at risk of harm. We saw people with different needs not being supported properly at mealtimes.
Woodlands was supposed to be a place that people call home, and we found the whole building was poorly maintained and unclean, with several environmental risks that could place people at harm. Strong odours throughout the home made it an unpleasant place for people to live. Storerooms were very untidy, plans to mitigate fire risks weren’t in place, and we found broken hoists and rusty shower chairs which needed replacing.
We have told leaders where we expect to see rapid, and widespread 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 hadn’t been recruited safely.
- Governance systems and audits weren’t effective in identifying or addressing areas for improvement.
- People gave examples where they felt there weren’t enough staff to support them safely.
- People didn’t experience a positive culture and weren’t always listened to.
- The home wasn’t clean, and people weren’t protected from the risk of infection.
- Systems to manage medicines safely weren’t in place.
- Leaders didn’t ensure lessons were learned when things went wrong.
- People didn’t always have risk assessments or care plans in place for a specific health condition.
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the next few days.