The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has placed Waterbeach care home in Cambridge into special measures following an inspection in October.
During the unannounced inspection, CQC found the provider was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, well-led and responsive to people’s needs.
Under CQC’s programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating to help people choose care. Overall, Waterbeach has been rated as Inadequate.
Waterbeach is a small care home that provides accommodation and support to four people with learning and physical disabilities.
A full report from the inspection has been published on the CQC website: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-1830144606.
At this inspection the provider was in breach of eight regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The system to monitor the quality of the care being provided and to drive improvement was not effective and this impacted on all areas of the service.
CQC found that people’s dignity, respect and privacy was not always maintained. People’s records were not held securely and confidential information was accessible to other people and visitors to the service.
Risks had not always been managed to keep people as safe as possible. Risk assessments had not always been completed when necessary. This meant that staff did not have the information they required to ensure that people received safe care.
The service did not continually review accidents and incidents and were not able to identify and address patterns or common themes. We could not be confident that people were receiving their medication as prescribed. Not all staff who administered medication had been trained and assessed as being competent.
Care plans did not contain all of the relevant information that staff required so that they knew how to meet people’s current needs. We could not be confident that people always received the care and support that they needed. People were not encouraged and supported to take part in a range of activities that they may enjoy.
Rob Assall-Marsden, CQC’s Head of Inspection for Adult Social Care in the central region said:
“It is essential that Waterbeach takes action to address the concerns we identified at this inspection. The provider has a responsibility to ensure that people living at the home are safe and protected from the risk of harm. All people living there have a right to receive care which is of a high quality, compassionate and safe.
"When we are faced with a residential or nursing home failing their residents, our first instinct is to make sure the service improves.
“Since the inspection we have been working closely with the local authority to ensure that residents are not at risk. We have placed this service in special measures and are taking further action in relation to this provider. We will report on this action when it is completed.”
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Find out more
Read reports from our checks on the standards at Waterbeach.