Sonia Lodge in Deal, Kent has been rated inadequate overall, following an inspection by CQC in March.
Sonia Lodge is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 28 older people, many of whom are living with dementia. At the time of the inspection there were 14 people living at the service.
During a previous inspection, in September 2021, breaches of legal requirements were found. CQC carried out a further unannounced focused inspection of the service in March to check how safe and well-led it was and whether improvements had been made.
Following the inspection, the overall rating for the service dropped from requires improvement to inadequate overall. Safe and well-led also dropped from requires improvement to inadequate. The service is now in special measures, which means it will be closely monitored and re-inspected within six months to check improvements have been made.
Hazel Roberts, CQC’s head of adult social care inspection, said:
“When we inspected Sonia Lodge, we expected to find improvements had been made, as the provider told us they were planning to address the concerns we raised during our previous inspection. Instead, disappointingly, we found many of the same issues were still impacting on the service, and the overall standard of care at the home has deteriorated.
“Essentially, there weren’t enough staff to support people safely and provide reasonable standards of care. Staff told us they were rushed off their feet and didn’t have time to sit and talk to people. They also said they didn’t always feel supported, respected, or that they were being listened to. Because staff were so busy, they were focused on tasks and not interacting with people to ensure they were comfortable, for example, they put food in front of people without speaking to them.
“This was impacting on people in many ways. Prior to the inspection, we were told that people who needed help with going to the toilet weren’t being supported. During our inspection we found one person’s continence pads hadn’t been changed, or even checked, for eight hours. Consequently, the lounge, and some other areas in the home, smelt of urine. One person told us they hadn’t been to the toilet for four days and they had pain in their stomach.
“We also found people weren’t being treated in a dignified way. One person said their clothes had been missing since they moved into the home. The provider didn’t have a record of which clothes they arrived with, so they couldn’t tell if the clothes were missing or not. Other people were wearing mis-matched clothing, or dirty clothes. One person had no shoes on, and staff didn’t notice the person’s wheelchair had only one footrest and their feet were dragging on the floor.
“Some people living there didn’t get on well. Instead of intervening to calm people, the situation was left to escalate, and we saw people in the lounge shouting at each other and threatening to hit one another.
“Despite developing an action plan focused on making improvements, the provider hadn’t ensured lessons were being learnt when things went wrong and there was no record of action taken after accidents and incidents occurred. The service is now in special measures, and we will continue to monitor it closely, in conjunction with partner agencies. Our priority is for the safety of people living in the home and the quality of care they receive.”
CQC found the following during this inspection:
- Staff were not always following people’s care plans and people were not being supported safely.
- People were not treated with dignity and respect or supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.
- People were not provided with mental and physical stimulation during the day. When people expressed their emotions through behaviour, this was not well managed and was allowed to escalate.
- Medicines were not well managed and medicine records were not well kept.
- Incidents were not analysed to ensure they could be prevented from happening again.
- Although cleanliness of the service had improved since the last inspection, the service did not smell clean and needed further improvement.
- Although staff knew how to raise concerns about abuse, systems had not been effective in reducing the risk of abuse by neglect.
- Record keeping was poor and not always accurate.
- Auditing was not effective at ensuring quality was maintained.
- Safe recruitment processes weren’t being used to recruit staff, as the provider had not done background checks on people’s work history.
For enquiries about this press release please email regional.engagement@cqc.org.uk.
Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here. (Please note: the press office is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters.)
For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.