The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Masson House in Matlock, Derbyshire, inadequate, and placed it in special measures following an inspection in August and September.
Masson House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care to up to 17 people. The service primarily provides support to older adults but can also support people over the age of 18.
The inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s continual checks on the safety and quality of healthcare services.
Following the inspection, the overall rating for the home is inadequate, as well as the areas of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. The service was previously rated good overall, and for being safe, responsive, effective, and caring. Well-led was previously rated requires improvement.
A further inspection has since been carried out which resulted in CQC suspending the provider’s registration until 2 February 2024. This was to ensure the provider makes the urgent and necessary improvements. All CQC action is open to appeal and the latest inspection report will be publish in due course.
Greg Rielly, CQC deputy director of operations in the midlands, said:
“When we inspected Masson House, we were disappointed to find a poor culture had developed that allowed standards of care to slip. Leaders need to prioritise making urgent improvements, particularly regarding people’s safety and how their needs are being met.
“It was very concerning that some people had experienced verbal abuse and bullying from a staff member which is totally unacceptable in a place they call their home. This had been reported to the manager, but nothing had changed, and it hadn’t been referred as a safeguarding issue to the local authority.
“We also saw some unsafe areas of the home where people could be harmed, for example, several hot water outlets including showers weren’t temperature controlled which placed people at risk of scalding. There were also exposed hot water pipes and radiators which could cause burns if touched, and several windows didn’t have opening restrictors which placed people at risk of falling from height.
“It was upsetting to hear people say that they often felt cold in the home and had to sit with double jumpers on or blankets over their legs. People deserve to have their basic care needs met and the provider needs to ensure people are warm enough on a daily basis.
“We will continue to monitor the service closely to ensure the necessary improvements are made, and if these are not made by the time the registration suspension ends, we will not hesitate to take further enforcement action.”
Inspectors found:
- The provider had a safeguarding policy and procedure, but this wasn’t readily available and accessible to all staff
- People weren’t appropriately protected against the potential risk of legionella infection
- The provider didn’t have an appropriate fire risk assessment in place at the time of the inspection
- The laundry room had visible mould present, was poorly ventilated, and wasn’t temperature controlled
- People's prescribed medicines weren’t managed safely.
- Staff recruitment records didn’t always contain the required information in respect of staff work history and proof of identity
- There weren’t always enough staff to meet people’s needs
- The service didn’t always involve people in choosing their preferred meals.