The Care Quality Commission (CQC) made its first and unannounced inspection of newly registered Parkhill Support Services Brighton Road, a supported living service in Surrey, in July this year and identified serious concerns with the provision of care.
Parkhill Support Services Brighton Road was registered on 20 March 2020 to provide personal care to people that live in supported living accommodation; including people with a learning disability, autistic people and people requiring 24-hour support. At the time of the inspection eight people were using the service across two separate supported living settings.
Overall the service is rated inadequate, placing it into special measures, it was also rated inadequate for being safe and well-led; it was rated requires improvement for being effective, caring and responsive.
Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s deputy chief inspector for people with a learning disability and autistic people said:
“It is very alarming, and deeply concerning, that at our first inspection of this service we identified serious issues with the provision of care. People using the service told us they did not feel safe, and the provider was not identifying or reviewing risks well therefore not ensuring a safe environment for the people it supports.
“We also found aspects of a negative culture, when restrictive practices had been used they were not performed appropriately or in line with current guidance and legislation. Additionally, the service did not have enough staff to safely support people or adequately meet their needs, and when staff raised concerns these were not fully considered or reported to the relevant authority for further investigation, including CQC.
“Poor care is wholly unacceptable, people are entitled to good safe care delivered in a manner that meets their needs. We have made our findings clear to the provider and expect immediate action to be made to address our findings and we will not hesitate to take enforcement action if improvements to keep people safe are not made in a timely manner.
“We will continue to monitor the provider, alongside our partner agencies, and return in due course to check whether the necessary improvements have been made.”
Inspectors found the following issues at the service:
- People and staff told us they did not always feel safe
- The provider did not always make sure people were safe in the environment and did not always assess, monitor and review risks to people’s safety
- People were at risk of harm from the actions of another person using the service
- Some restraint and restrictive practices had been in used but were not recorded appropriately and the provider had failed to ensure current legislation and guidance was adhered to
- When staff raised concerns these were not acted on appropriately. Where there was suspected, alleged or actual abuse this was not reported to the relevant authorities
- Medicines were not always stored or managed safely
- The provider did not always take action when things went wrong
- The service did not always have enough staff to keep people safe and they worked excessive hours to cover shifts
- The provider had not been completing important information required by CQC to enable the monitoring of COVID-19 outbreaks, the testing program and vaccinations
- The provider had failed to understand its responsibilities in line with requirements of the providers registration and had not notified the CQC of certain changes, events and incidents.
Full details of the inspection are given in the report published on our website.
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