The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Aden House Care Home in Clayton West in Huddersfield, inadequate, and placed it in special measures to keep people safe, following an inspection in April.
Aden House Care Home, which is run by Aden House Limited, provides accommodation and personal care to older people, some of whom are living with dementia.
The inspection was carried out to check if improvements had been made since the last inspection.
Following the inspection, the overall rating for the home, as well as the areas of safe, effective and well-led, have moved down from requires improvement to inadequate. The areas of caring and responsive have moved down from good to inadequate.
The service has been placed in special measures which means it will be kept under close review to keep people safe, and if CQC do not propose to cancel the provider's registration, there will be a re-inspection to check for significant improvements.
Sheila Grant, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said:
“When we inspected Aden House Care Home, it was really concerning to see such a poor level of care being provided to people. Leaders need to prioritise making urgent improvements, particularly around ensuring people’s daily care needs are being met.
“Aden House is somewhere that people using this service call home and leaders weren’t ensuring it was a safe and clean place to live, or somewhere where people’s basic hygiene and wellbeing needs were being met.
“It was concerning and upsetting to see that several people were dishevelled and unclean, with greasy hair and dirty fingernails. Relatives were concerned about people not being supported to clean their teeth or get assistance with their personal hygiene which is totally unacceptable.
“The environment was not suitable to be called a home. It was dirty, in a state of disrepair and had a sombre atmosphere with no activities available for people living there. We found dirt and debris on communal floors, broken furniture in bathrooms and unclean bedding in people’s rooms which could place them at risk of harm or infection.
“In addition, people weren’t always spoken to in a kind or caring manner and their dignity wasn’t always respected. Care delivery was very task-focused with minimal engagement and positive relationships between staff and people.
“We will continue to monitor the service closely to ensure significant improvements are made. If we are not assured people are receiving safe care, we will not hesitate to take further enforcement action to ensure people are receiving the high standard of care they deserve.”
Inspectors found:
- People's care wasn’t always delivered in line with their needs and preferences and their personal care needs weren’t always met
- People's privacy and dignity was not consistently maintained
- Staff didn’t always complete relevant training to ensure they had the right skills and knowledge to support people safely
- Care records didn’t contain an accurate overview of people's care and support needs
- Effective systems hadn’t been established for gathering feedback from people and relatives
- The provider didn’t always work in partnership with other agencies as a means of improving the quality of the service.