Archived: Thistlegate House

Updated 15 June 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 14 April 2016 and was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by an inspection manager.

Before the inspection we contacted representatives from the local authority who had recent contact with the service to obtain their views. We spoke with the two people using the service. The registered manager and provider told us that they would not engage with the inspection process and had instructed their staff not to speak with us.

We did not ask the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We planned to gather this information during the inspection. However, the provider/registered manager declined to engage with the inspection and therefore we were unable to gather this information.

We briefly met with the two people using the service and spoke with one person’s advocate following the inspection.

Updated 15 June 2016

The overall rating for this service remains as ‘Inadequate’. We have kept this service under review while we took action to cancel the providers registration as a result of breaches in regulation resulting in people receiving inadequate care.

We took action to cancel the provider’s registration following our inspection in April 2015 as the provider had failed to make the significant improvements necessary. These legal proceedings have now concluded and we are able to report on the outcome of the actions we have taken. The provider appealed against our decision to cancel their registration. This appeal was heard by the Care Standards Tribunal, this appeal was dismissed by the tribunal and their registration was cancelled on 11 May 2016.

There were five people accommodated at the time of our last inspection in October 2015. Our inspection of October 2015 found that care had fallen below the fundamental standards and regulations had been breached. People were not adequately protected from harm as safe systems to safeguard people from abuse had not been established, medicines were not managed safely and people’s risks were not managed. People did not receive effective care as correct moving and handling equipment was not used and people were not supported effectively to make decisions in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People had not been consulted regarding their routines such as when to have a bath or having a hot drink with their meals and did not always have access to activities. Quality assurance systems and records were not maintained and the provider had failed to make statutory notifications as they are legally obliged.

Feedback from one person and one person’s advocate was that they were happy living at Thistlegate House and they were being “looked after”. A recent local authority visit concluded that the two people were well cared for.

The provider had not made statutory notifications as required.

This was a breach of Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Registration) Regulations 2009.

This service had a registered manager as is required. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We were unable to establish if improvements had been made as the provider/registered manager declined to engage with the inspection and told us they had instructed their staff not to speak with us.