Archived: Greyhound Farmhouse Barnsley

We carried out a visit on 16 August 2012 to follow up improvements to Greyhound Farmhouse. The provider had advised us that building known as 'Home Farm' was now suitable to provide accommodation and personal care to people. There was no one living at Home Farm and receiving a service, or at any of the other buildings at the location including Greyhound Farmhouse and The Barn.

We toured Home Farm and looked at relevant records associated with this outcome.

The home was seen to be clean and had been decorated internally, with new flooring in place on the ground floor. We saw some evidence of monitoring in relation to the health and safety and risk assessments associated with the environment. However we found that documents had not been signed or dated and some areas identified for improvement had not been attended to.

This was in response to serious concerns made about the welfare of the people living at the home that had been raised with Gloucestershire local authority by anonymous whistle blowers.

Following a visit to the home the local authority found evidence to support these concerns and arranged for people to move temporarily to alternative accommodation whilst these concerns were investigated.

We were unable to speak to people about their experience of living at Greyhound Farmhouse or observe people's care and interaction with staff.

We were given a tour of the home and spoke with eight staff who were temporarily redeployed to redecorate Greyhound Farmhouse.

We spoke with the registered provider who helped with the inspection process in the absence of the registered manager.

We had serious concerns about the registered provider's ability to provide safe and effective care to the people living at Greyhound Farmhouse. We wrote to the registered provider on 8 May 2012 to seek an immediate undertaking that they would not admit any further people to this location. We received a written undertaking from them on 14 May 2012. This was to ensure that people are not placed at any potential risk of harm, while improvements are being addressed.

We have met with the registered provider to discuss the serious failings and what action they propose to take. We will be asking for weekly reports identifying actions taken. We will check to make sure improvements have been made.