Elderly put at risk by home

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) placed Marsh House in Ulnes Walton Lane into special measures for failing to make improvements following an inspection in 2014.

At that time, the provider was found not properly managing risks or people’s food and fluid intake. Although some improvements have been made, the report states “little in the way of improvements was found with respect to managing nutrition and hydration.”

The most recent report rates the home as inadequate. The CQC can apply to deregister the service if significant improvements are not made.

Inspectors’ findings included: one person was not turned for 12 hours, causing skin damage, there was unsafe medicine management, serious injuries and allegations of abuse were not reported and staff were scheduled to work without relevant checks.

Debbie Westhead of CQC said: “It is extremely disappointing that the provider has not taken the findings of our inspection in 2014 seriously”.

Co-owner Mark Gilbert said he was “extremely concerned and dissapointed”.

He said: “The health, safety and well being of our residents are of the utmost importance to us. We recognise that our previous Quality Assurance Systems, together with some key personenel failed to alert us to changes within the home and we are working closely with CQC to agree improvement plans going forward.

“An experienced new registered manager has been appointed with a good proven track record with CQC and we are confident that the home will improve in a short period of time.”