A BARNSLEY care home has been plunged into special measures by the Care Quality Commission after inspectors found a plethora of issues ranging from residents in dirty clothes to staff not being recruited ‘safely’.
Orchard Views Residential Homes, based on Gawber Road, provides accommodation and personal care for older people.
They were inspected by the CQC in November and then December and inspectors subsequently placed the home into special measures to ‘protect people’.
At the time of the first visit, 25 people were using the service.
This number dropped to 13 by the second visit.
The local authority withdrew their funding in December to protect the safety of its residents.
The CQC found breaches of regulation in how well they were managing medicines, assessing and managing risks, and care planning.
Bosses at the governing body have issued a warning notice in order to focus their attention on immediately making improvements in these areas.
As well as the overall rating declining from requires improvement to inadequate, so have the ratings for well-led and safe.
The ratings for caring and responsive have declined from good to requires improvement.
The service has also been placed in special measures, which means it will be kept under close review by CQC to keep people safe while improvements are being made, and continue to monitor the home to make sure this is happening.
If there aren’t rapid and widespread improvements, CQC bosses say they won’t hesitate to use their regulatory powers further.
Alan Stephenson, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said: “Our experience tells us that when a service isn’t being well-led, people’s care and treatment suffers which is what we found at Orchard Views Residential Home.
“At our last inspection we rated the service as requires improvement and gave leaders detailed information on where improvements needed to be made.
“However, instead of finding improvements at this follow up inspection, we found widespread issues remained that placed people at risk of significant harm, and the quality of care had actually deteriorated.
“Staff were not always giving people their medicine as prescribed and told us that medicines training, support and guidance was very basic and not sufficient to provide them with the skills to manage medicines safely.
“I want to thank staff for their honesty, it can be difficult to speak up, but their insights can help improve care for everyone.
“One relative also told us of an incident where an agency staff member hadn’t given their loved one their medicine at all.”
Inspectors also found that staff were not always recruited safely and leaders did not analyse accidents or incidents when they happened.
“We noticed one person wearing stained nightwear in the afternoon and they told us they had been waiting three months for staff to purchase new clothes for them,” Mr Stephenson added.
“Other relatives raised further concerns with us, such as being unsure whether people were being gotten out of bed, repositioned throughout the day in accordance with their needs to avoid pressure sores, or being bathed safely.
“We recognise that the ongoing recruitment for a registered manager impacted leadership at the home, but the service must make sure interim arrangements are in place so people’s care doesn’t suffer.
“We have also asked the provider for an action plan in response to our concerns.
“We expect rapid and significant changes and will continue to monitor the service closely to keep people safe while this happens.
“We will return to check on their progress and won’t hesitate to use our regulatory powers further if people are not receiving the care they have a right to expect.”
A spokesperson for Orchard Views Care Home said: “We are already rebuilding trust with residents and their families by demonstrating significant improvements in our care and leadership.
“We are fully committed to delivering high quality, person-centred care and rebuilding a service that our community can have confidence in.
“Our entire staff team remains committed to working closely with the CQC to ensure rapid and sustained progress.”
Coun Jo Newing, cabinet spokesperson for place health and adult social care, added: “We’re committed to making sure residents can access high-quality, people-centred care when they need it, creating a sustainable care market that meets the needs of our communities.
“After working closely with Orchard Views to address concerns about the quality of care offered to their residents, we decided to terminate our contract with them in December.
“While they are taking steps to improve the support they offer in light of the CQC’s findings, we felt this was the best way to protect the safety of residents in line with our duties under the Care Act.
“We worked with Orchard Views to safely relocate residents whose care we help to fund before Christmas and help them settle into new surroundings.
“Our social workers have been working hard to make these transitions as smooth as possible, ensuring those affected continue to receive the right care and support.”
