The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has put Shannon Court Care Centre, based in Bolton into special measures to protect people using this service, after rating them as Inadequate following an inspection in July this year.
Shannon Court Care Centre provides general nursing, as well as nursing and residential care for those living with a dementia. The home can accommodate up to 78 people in single rooms, most of which are en-suite. On the day of the inspection there were 75 people currently using the service.
We ask five questions, are services; safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. Overall, Shannon Court Care Centre has been rated as Inadequate.
Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North, said:
“People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care. We found that the care provided by Shannon Court Care Centre fell a very long way short of what we expect services to provide, which is why we have intervened to keep people using this service safe.
“We were very concerned that vulnerable people using this service were not being kept safe in the most basic of ways. We found the centre to be extremely dirty and untidy with a number of infection risks, and a roof patio overlooking the car park had a low wall that people using the service could have fallen from or climbed over and been seriously hurt.
“We also saw that medicines were not managed safely at the service. On the day of our inspection we saw people being given medication in an unsafe way, as well as the incorrect storage and disposal of medicines which put people at risk of being harmed.
“We were also very concerned that the dignity and respect of people using Shannon Court Care Centre was not respected, and people were poorly presented.
“If insufficient improvements have been made such that there remains a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will not hesitate to take further enforcement action.”
The full report from the inspection can be found here on our website: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-916410420.
Although the service had good checks when recruiting staff, to make sure they were suitable to work with vulnerable people, on the day of inspection CQC saw rotas showing staffing levels were insufficient to meet the needs of the people who used the service.
Medicines were not managed safely at the service, as inspectors saw evidence of unsafe administration, storage and disposal of medication throughout the day. Also notifications of serious injuries had not been submitted to the CQC as required over the last 12 months.
There was little choice with regard to meals and we saw that people were not being assisted with nutrition and hydration. Dietary requirements were documented inconsistently.
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