Houndswood House Care Home

Ratings

• Overall

  Inadequate

• Safe

  Inadequate

• Effective

  Inadequate

• Caring

  Inadequate

• Responsive

  Inadequate

• Well-led

  Inadequate

Our view of the service

Houndswood House is a care home. It provides accommodation, personal and nursing care for up to 50 people. At this assessment 31 people were living at the service. This was the first assessment of this service under the new provider and was carried out under our single assessment framework. It was brought forward following increased concerns about the quality and safety of care. The last rating for this service under the previous provider was good. Assessment activity took place between 25 February 2025 and 24 April 2025. We visited the service on 25 February 2025, 10 March 2025 and 08 April 2025. This was an unannounced assessment completed by 4 inspectors and 1 Specialist Advisor. We looked at all quality statements and identified breaches in regulations in relation to medicines management, management of risk, safeguarding, staffing, dignity, person centred care and good governance.

People were at risk of harm because medicines were not managed safely. The provider did not identify and manage risk or recognise safeguarding issues and failed to consistently report these to external bodies

There were not enough staff to care for people safely and this led to some people waiting too long for assistance and others telling us they felt lonely. Staff were not trained in all needs people had. Nursing staff had not had their clinical competency checked or training provided to ensure they practiced safely.

The premises were clean and well maintained. However, equipment checks were not always completed.

Staff engagement with people was minimal and task based. The provider did not have effective systems to monitor the quality of the service. They had not promoted a person centred, open culture where staff felt comfortable to raise concerns. Action to address concerns identified by external bodies was slow.

Where CQC have taken civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this on our website after any representations and/ or appeals have been concluded.

This service is being placed in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.

People's experience of this service

We carried out observations of care and support including the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). This is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk to us. Staff engagement with people beyond the task being carried out was minimal and staff did not always communicate well or support people to understand. People told us they were affected by the lack of staff. We observed people distressed waiting for care. Some people said they were lonely. We were also told some staff were impatient or unkind and some people were reluctant to call for help. However other people said staff were kind but lacked time for social interactions.