CQC places London care home into Special Measures

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated the Welcome Care Home in Lewisham, South London as Inadequate and has placed the home into special measures following an inspection in May 2015.

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. Placement into special measures means that the Welcome Care Home must now make necessary improvements or face action that could result in closure.

Under CQC’s programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating to help people make informed choices about their care. Overall, the Welcome Care Home has been rated as Inadequate.

A full report from the inspection has been published on the CQC website: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-117608361.

CQC found very poor cleanliness and infection control during the most recent inspection, with dirty bathrooms and toilets, and local infection control guidance not being followed by cleaning staff.

Inadequate meal choices were offered to residents despite specific dietary requirements and broken bedroom door locks and large holes in bathroom doors were left without repair, resulting in a lack of privacy.

Sally Warren, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care said:

“It is essential that the Welcome Care Home takes action to address the concerns we identified during the last inspection. The provider has a responsibility to ensure that people living at the home are safe and protected from the risk of harm at all times.

"When we are faced with a residential or nursing home that is failing to care for residents, our first instinct is to work with the provider to ensure that the service improves.

“We will re-inspect the home within six months to check whether sufficient improvements have been made. If sufficient improvements have not been made and there remains a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take further action which may include cancelling the registration of the service.”

Ends

For further information please contact Yetunde Akintewe, CQC Regional Engagement Manager, on 07471 020 659. For media enquiries, 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.

For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.