The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Harewood House, Scarborough that they must make improvements to protect the safety and welfare of people they care for.
CQC carried out its most recent inspection in February. Inspectors found that for safety and well-led, the home was inadequate and for effectiveness, caring and responsiveness they required improvement. Overall the service has been rated as Inadequate.
The full report from the inspection can be found on our website.
Some of the findings from the latest inspection included:
At an inspection in August 2016, CQC identified breaches of regulations and the service was placed in special measures. At this inspection inspectors found the service had begun to implement an action plan but found many concerns still outstanding.
A fire risk assessment had been completed but appropriate action had not been taken to address concerns raised by the fire authority. There were no personal evacuation plans in place, smoke alarms were not in place where required and regular fire drills had not taken place. The testing of fire alarms had not been recorded appropriately and there were a number of fire doors that did not close correctly.
Accidents and incidents had not been adequately recorded. There were no clear audit trails and the registered manager did not review accidents and incidents. We could not be sure if appropriate action had been taken when an accident or incident had occurred.
Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North, said:
“People are entitled to services which provide safe, caring and high quality care. We found that the care provided at Harewood House once again fell short of what we expect services to provide. Many of the breaches directly affected people’s safety, these need to be addressed as a matter of urgency."
“People did not always receive care that was responsive to their needs. Inspectors could see there were no planned activities on offer at the service and they saw very little interaction between people and staff. In addition staff had not received practical training to support them in their role. Supervisions had recently begun to take place but no appraisals had been completed."
“We found a lack of consistent and effective management which coupled with ineffective systems for checking quality meant issues were not identified or resolved."
“People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care, consequently Harewood House will remain in special measures."
“We are working with local partners including North Yorkshire County Council to ensure the safety of people using this service.”
“CQC are now taking enforcement action against the provider, TM & TR Ltd. This is currently subject to legal proceedings and CQC are unable to report on these proceedings until they have concluded. Any regulatory decision that CQC takes is open to challenge by a registered person through a variety of internal and external appeal processes.”
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