'Unsafe' and 'not well-led' Leyland care home in special measures

Paradise House in Paradise Lane, has been rated as inadequate in a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report issued this week.

The home, which provides specialist dementia care, had been rated as good in January 2018, but inspectors called in unannounced, in response to concerns received from residents’ representatives, external professionals and whistle-blowing information received by the CQC and the local authority.

The service was found to be unsafe and not well-led.

Key concerns were:

n Residents were placed at “significant risk of avoidable harm” because the provider failed to ensure risks for individuals had been assessed, including choking risks for people with swallowing difficulties;

n Medicines were not managed safely and people did not always receive their medicines as described. In one case, a person had not received their anti-depressant medication on seven occasions and had not received their diabetic medicine on eight occasions;

n Staff were not always safely recruited;

n Record keeping was insufficient;

n The service did not always follow safeguarding procedures when a person had fallen.

Inspectors did find that the home was clean, protected by the prevention and control of infection and adequately staffed on the day of inspection.

The home will be inspected again within six months and if there is still a rating of inadequate for any key aspect, the CQC can start proceedings to close it.

Dovehaven Care Homes, which runs the service, have been approached for a comment.