Harrogate Lodge Care Home, Leeds, is rated as Inadequate by CQC

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Harrogate Lodge Care Home in Leeds, West Yorkshire operated by Tamaris Healthcare (England) Limited that it must make improvements or face further enforcement action.

During an unannounced inspection in October 2014, inspectors found that the home on Harrogate Road, in Chapel Allerton, Leeds was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive or well led.

Inspectors found that improvements required as a result of a previous inspection in July 2014 had not been made, and they also identified further concerns.

CQC has issued the provider with warning notices setting a deadline for improvements in relation to care and welfare of people who use services, supporting staff, and quality monitoring.

A full report of this inspection has been published on the CQC website this week www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-128584580.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating to help people choose care. Overall, Harrogate Lodge Care Home has been rated as Inadequate.

Inspectors identified a number of areas in which improvements were still required, for example:

• People living in the home were not kept safe due to poor medicines management and administration.
• There was not always enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet people’s needs.
• Staff were not always provided with sufficient training and supervision.
• Residents were being put at risk because staff had failed to report safeguarding incidents to the local authority team for investigation or notify CQC.
• The provider’s records did not demonstrate that complaints were responded to in a timely way or that appropriate action had been taken as a result of the concerns raised.
• Some care plans examined were found to be incomplete and did not contain enough relevant information to enable the staff to safely provide appropriate care and treatment.
• The provider had failed to introduce an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received.

Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North said:

“We found that the care provided at Harrogate Lodge Care Home fell a long way short of what we expect services to provide. We have told them they must take action to address the issues we identified.

“Although people were being cared by staff that knew the residents needs quite well, our concerns around medicine management, staff training and quality monitoring needs to be addressed urgently.

“We have made it clear that we will return to the home to check that the necessary improvements have been made. If not - we will take further action to make sure that people living there receive care which is safe, effective, caring and responsive to their needs.”

Ends

For further information please contact CQC Regional Communications Officer Mark Humphreys on 0191 233 3519. Alternatively, the CQC press office can be contacted on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07789 876508.