The Old Vicarage Care Home: special measures status for Lancashire care home where resident was left lying on floor after falling out of bed

A Lancashire care home has been placed in special measures after a damning inspection by a health watchdog.
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Officials from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found staff at The Old Vicarage Care Home, in Naze Lane, Freckleton, routinely ignored guidelines designed to keep residents safe.

One elderly resident was left on the floor of their bedroom for several hours after falling out of bed. Inspectors also found numerous untrained staff working at the home and several residents with unexplained bruising.

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The report means the home could be closed and its resident rehomed unless improvements are made, the CQC said.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates all health and social care services in EnglandThe Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates all health and social care services in England
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates all health and social care services in England

What did inspectors find at the Old Vicarage Care Home?

CQC officials carried out their inspection in May after previously ranking the Naze Lane care home as requiring improvement, leaving a ‘to-do’ list areas which needed urgent attention.

However, on their return they found the home’s care provision had got worse and found a number of alarming examples of bad practice putting residents in danger of harm.

These include:

The Old Vicarage Care Home in Freckleton has been placed into special measures after receiving a CQC rating of inadequateThe Old Vicarage Care Home in Freckleton has been placed into special measures after receiving a CQC rating of inadequate
The Old Vicarage Care Home in Freckleton has been placed into special measures after receiving a CQC rating of inadequate

People were not in receipt of safe care at the time of the inspection. Good practices for medicines management were not adhered to as people did not receive their medicines as directed and medicines were not stored safely. Testing of key equipment including fire equipment was not completed. Staff had not been recruited safely.

The Old Vicarage Care Home: Untrained staff and bruising to patients

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The inspection also found the lack of trained staff at the home meant some residents’ needs were not met to implement their emergency evacuation plan. More worryingly, they found unexplained bruising on some residents and rough treatment. One person told the health watchdog: "The male staff member could not get me out of bed, so they just pulled me up."

This had resulted in a bruise to person's arm and should have been reported to the safeguarding team. The report published last week said: "Staff were not trained to keep people safe. When speaking with staff and reviewing records it became apparent that knowledge of when to report concerns was limited. When we looked at training records, we saw only 50% of staff had received safeguarding training in the last 12 months.

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What other concerns did the CQC uncover at The Old Vicarage Care Home?

It was noted that medicines were not managed safely and upon reviewing administration records, prescriptions and medicine management concerns were found. One eye cream which had been dated when opened, was still being administered a week beyond its best before date. People did not always receive medicines to manage pain when they needed them.

What did the staff say?

Staff did not feel supported and did not have the information they needed to deliver safe care. The provider had not operated an effective governance procedure to ensure action required to keep the building safe was taken when it was required and requirements under the provider's registration including submitting notifications were not completed.

What will happen next?

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The CQC said they would meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good and will work with the local authority to monitor progress. The care home will re-inspected with six months and could be forced to close if improvements are not made.