Care Quality Commission takes action to protect people at Deneside Court care home in Jarrow

Published: 14 October 2016 Page last updated: 12 May 2022
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Deneside Court, a care home in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, remains in special measures after the CQC again rated them as Inadequate following an unannounced inspection in July this year and an announced inspection of their pharmacy in August.

Deneside Court is a 40 bed purpose built home and provides residential and nursing care to adults with learning disabilities and physical and neurological disabilities. At the time of the inspection there were 36 people using the service.

This service was previously inspected in March this year, after concerns were raised to CQC by external health and social care professionals and the police. Inspectors found one breach of regulation at this inspection and the home was placed into special measures. Deneside Court has not sufficiently improved to protect people using this service and CQC is now considering the appropriate regulatory response.

Ros Sanderson, Head of Adult Social Care in Newcastle, Northumberland and South of Tyne for CQC, said:

“People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care. We found that the care provided at Deneside Court fell short of what we expect services to provide.

“We were so concerned with the medicines management at Deneside Court that we sent two inspectors to look specifically into the pharmacy after the initial inspection. The way that this home managed their medicines was not safe. We found medicines being given out that were past their use by date, and emergency medicines were not available for those people that might need it. Although we found audits which identified issues that needed improving Deneside had failed to action them. This is not good enough.

“It was very worrying that staff did not always have the appropriate training and skills to meet the needs of people living at Deneside Court, especially those with specific needs such as diabetes, learning disabilities and mental health. The overall lack of permanently employed, suitably skilled staff was a great cause of concern to us.

“We were also worried about the safety of staff as well as those living at Deneside Court. They told us that they did not feel safe supporting people with challenging behaviours, and we found that there wasn’t a robust system for them to summon support to keep both themselves and people using the service safe.

“We are working with local partners including South Tyneside Council to ensure the safety of people using this service.”

The full report from the inspection can be found here on our website.

At this inspection CQC found that there were breaches of six of the Fundamental Standards of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. These related to the safe delivery of care and treatment, person centred care, consent, safeguarding, staffing recruitment and the overall oversight of the home.

Inspectors found that staff did not always have the appropriate training and skills to meet the needs of the people living in the service. For example, diabetes, learning disabilities and mental health needs. There was a lack of suitably skilled and experienced nursing and care staff permanently employed and the registered provider relied on temporary agency staff to provide nursing care and support on a day to day basis. They had failed to check that agency nursing staff had the skills to deliver the care and treatment people needed, such as tracheostomy care and support with behaviours that challenge.

People's risk assessments were generic and risks associated with their conditions for example, epilepsy, were not considered. Risk assessments were not reviewed if people’s needs changed, which was not in line with the provider’s own policies.

Inspectors found that Deneside Court had ineffective systems for monitoring, assessing and reviewing the service. Where systems had identified poor practice, gaps in care practices or the need to make significant improvements, these were not always acted upon. Action plans viewed by inspectors contained timescales which had lapsed with outstanding actions remaining.

Any regulatory decision that CQC takes is open to challenge by a registered person through a variety of internal and external appeal processes.

For further information, please contact Kerri James, CQC Regional Engagement Communications Officer by email kerri.james@cqc.org.uk or by phone on 07464 92 9966.

Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here.

Please note: the press office is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters. For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.

We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.