CQC publish a further three SHC Clemsfold Group Limited services

Published: 21 November 2017 Page last updated: 3 November 2022

The Care Quality Commission has published the full findings of its inspections of three care services provided by SHC Clemsfold Group Limited in West Sussex.

Two of the homes Woodhurst Lodge and Rapkyns Nursing Home have been rated as Requires Improvement and Rapkyns Care Centre has been rated as Good. CQC is currently taking further action to protect the safety and welfare of all the people living at the homes

The full reports available on the CQC website include:

The CQC have brought forward a series of inspections of nine care homes belong to SHC Clemsfold Group Limited. Working closely with other stakeholders including West Sussex County Council, the Commission were made aware of risks in people’s care.

As a result of the concerns which have been raised to CQC and other stakeholders, the provider is currently subject to a police investigation. While CQC inspectors did not examine specific safeguarding allegations which have formed part of these investigations, the Commission did use the information raised by partner agencies to plan what areas to inspect and to judge the safety and quality of the services at the time of the inspections.

Deborah Ivanova, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the South, said:

“It is clearly the responsibility of the provider SHC Clemsfold Group Limited, to ensure that all of their services provide consistent high quality care. For a service to be well led, the management of the service must have high quality support and robust, regular oversight from the registered provider. This is to monitor the quality of care delivered and ensure good practice and learning is shared over all of the services. However, there is evidence that Sussex Health Care does not do this consistently and effectively enough."

“We will be returning to all of the homes again in due course and will expect to see improvements made.”

At Woodhurst Lodge inspectors found staff ensured care plans were regularly updated with detailed information but care was not person centred and was delivered in an impersonal manner and care and support needs were not always put into practice. Staff did not always take into account people's preferences whenever activities were organised. Since this inspection a new manager has recently been recruited to the service and CQC are currently monitoring the registration process.

At Rapkyns Nursing Home inspectors found gaps in mandatory training for some staff including safeguarding vulnerable adults and mental capacity. People were not always receiving personalised care in line with their preferences even though it was recorded in their care plans. Staff were not always deployed in a way to ensure that people were able to get up at the time they wanted because other people were sometimes prioritised.. Activities were not always organised in line with people's interests. Care plans documented the activities that people enjoyed which had been organised by staff, rather than activities that were tailored to meet people's needs or preferences. There was a lack of mental stimulation for people who had little or no communication. Staff provided care in a task-orientated way; it was not individualised or person-centred.

At Rapkyns Care Centre was rated Good overall but the well led was rated as Requires Improvement, Inspectors found the ethos of the service was friendly with a team who promoted people's rights to a good standard of care. People’s care records showed where there were risks to their safety and what actions had been put in place to mitigate this. The provider was found to be working in partnership with other agencies to ensure areas requiring improvement were acted on. However, a further period of time and work is required of the provider to ensure that their systems for monitoring and improving services are embedded and to demonstrate that "good" practice can be sustained at Rapkyns Care Centre over time.

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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.