The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Ainsworth Nursing Home Limited that they must make urgent improvements at Ainsworth Nursing Home, in Bolton, in order to ensure the safety and well-being of people living there.
During an unannounced inspection in May this year inspectors found that the provider was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, responsive to people’s needs or well led.
Under CQC’s programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating to help people choose care. Overall, Ainsworth Nursing Home has been rated as Inadequate.
A full report from the inspection has been published on the CQC website: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-121531307.
The report highlights a number of areas of concern, including:
Care records did not always include sufficient guidance for staff to ensure that they knew how to fully meet people’s individual needs, and the language used within was not always respectful.
Risk assessments whilst completed did not contain sufficient information to help guide staff to minimise risks or prevent re-occurrence.
No formal audits were undertaken to check the management and administration of people’s medicines were safe.
Inspectors found there to be a strong odour in the dementia unit and many other areas of the home were in a state of disrepair and in need of refurbishment.
Not all staff had received adequate training or guidance as the home’s systems to train staff were insufficient and rarely recorded, and there was lack of clinical supervision for nursing staff to help them develop their skills.
The home had not been suitably modified to support those with dementia; there was a lack of dementia friendly signage or adaptations to the environment allowing people to navigate around the home.
The homes registered manager had been practising as a registered nurse without being legally entitled. There was no reference to checks being made against the Nursing and Midwifery Council register (NMC).
The provider did not have an effective system in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received, and many of the home’s policies were out of date.
Debbie Westhead, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North, said:
“At our recent inspection we found many of the concerns from our previous visits had not been fully addressed, with some areas of the home continuing to be unsafe and some care posed a risk to the people living there.
“It is unacceptable that the provider has not made significant improvements to the service following our previous visits. Robust systems should be in place to monitor the quality of the service and check on the required registration of staff. It is of significant concern that the provider still did not have such systems in place to halt the deterioration in the service.
“The provider has a responsibility to ensure that people are safe and protected from the risk of harm. All people living at the home have a right to receive care which is of a high quality, compassionate and safe.
“Because of our findings we are currently considering the need for further regulatory action against the service, to protect the rights of the people there, but due to legal reasons we cannot comment further at this stage."
Ends
For further information please contact CQC Regional Communications Officer Mark Humphreys on 0191 233 3519. For media enquiries about the Care Quality Commission, please call the press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours. Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here (please note: the duty press officer is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters).
For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.
Find out more
Read reports from our checks on the standards at Ainsworth Nursing Home.