Britain’s care watchdog CQC steps in to protect residents at 'inadequate' Chorley care home
Britain’s care watchdog has been forced to step in and protect residents at a Chorley care home.
The Gables Care Home in Southport Road was placed in ‘special measures’ after it was deemed ‘inadequate’ following its latest inspection over two days in May.
The Care Quality Commission raised a number of concerns about the home which provides care for up to 21 older people, younger adults and people living with a dementia.
What inspectors found at Gables Care Home
“This service is being placed in special measures,” reported the CQC in its report published on July 29.
What are special measures? It is a form of enforcement to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements within a given timeframe.
The CQC said: “At our last inspection, we identified breaches of the legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment, good governance and staffing. At this inspection we found these issued had not been fully addressed.
“We found eight breaches of the legal regulations in relation to person centred care, dignity and respect, consent, safe care and treatment (including medicines), safeguarding, good governance, staffing levels and recruitment.
“Risks were not always being appropriately managed and safe practices were not always being followed. The environment was not always safe, meaning any risks had not always been mitigated.
“Safe staffing levels and safe recruitment practices were not in place. Infection control process were not always safe and medicines were not safely managed.
“Although people always had enough to eat and drink we were not assured about the quality of food being provided as we found several out-of-date items in the fridge.
“People’s dietary requirements were not always accurately recorded. Staff worked with all agencies involved in people’s care, though best outcomes were not always achieved.
“Although staff understood consent, we found there was a lack of documentation in place to support consent. Staff monitored people’s health to try and support healthy living, but this was not always happening as appropriate referrals were not always being made.
“Although we witnessed people being treated with kindness and compassion, we found multiple concerns that did not portray the service in this way.
“People’s privacy and dignity was not always respected. People were not always treated as individuals. Feedback around activities from staff was mixed. Staff, including the manager, did not always respond to people’s immediate needs.
“We had also been provided misleading information on numerous occasions, which did not support that of an open culture, though staff told us they knew how to ‘whistleblow’.
“Governance and oversight of the service needed significant improvement. However, staff told us they were treated fairly and the service employed a diverse range of staff.”
The owner of the care home, Mrs Shameem Akhtar Manzoor, was approached for comment.