Two care homes in Norfolk, run by the Royal Mencap Society, have been rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and placed in special measures, following inspections in March.
The services, known as Foxglove and Daisy, both located on Lamberts in Thetford, cared for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
The inspections were carried out due to feedback CQC received, which included concerns around staffing levels and the way medicines were managed.
Both inspections identified issues regarding the care of people at the services.
As these services are now in special measures, they remain under close review by CQC to keep people safe. They will be inspected again within six months to assess whether the necessary improvements have been made.
As well as being rated inadequate overall, both care homes were rated inadequate for being safe and well-led. They were rated requires improvement for being effective, caring and responsive to people’s needs.
Deborah Ivanova, CQC director for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said:
“The care being provided to people at both these services was inadequate and fell way below the standards that people should expect. People’s lives were restricted, and they were not able to experience full and rewarding lives. This is not acceptable.
“We found that premises weren’t always clean and well-maintained, and that there weren’t enough trained staff to keep people safe. Staff shortages affected the quality of care that people received and exposed them to increased risk of harm.
“We have raised our concerns with the Royal Mencap Society and both services will be supported to ensure people are safe and improvements are made.
“We will monitor the homes closely, and we will not allow them to provide a service to people if we’re not assured people living at the service can be well cared for.”
The inspection found there weren’t always enough staff to keep people safe at either service.
At Daisy, people prone to choking were eating unsupervised, and there were not enough staff to safely support one person who needed regular repositioning.
Neither care home had enough staff to safely manage emergency situations, particularly at night, and one person was found to have unsupervised access to the office and laundry room at Foxglove.
Insufficient staffing levels also had a negative impact on people’s quality of life as they were unable to always pursue their interests or activities within the community.
The staff shortage also meant interactions between employees and people living at the service were often task-based rather than personalised. For example, staff would organise film screenings, but didn’t have the time to sit and watch with residents to share the experience.
Inspectors also found poor cleanliness impacted people’s standards of living, and infection risks were not well controlled.
People’s safety was further undermined by the fact neither service could demonstrate safety checks on equipment were consistently undertaken, and by a lack of building security.
Behind these issues was a lack of strong leadership which did not ensure lessons were learnt from previous incidents or feedback. Leaders also had poor oversight of staff training and competence, meaning they couldn’t be confident staff knew how to meet people’s needs or keep them safe.
However, the inspection also found that staff treated people with compassion and kindness, and they respected residents’ privacy.
Bedrooms were personalised to help people living at the service express their individuality and included important items such as photographs of loved ones.
One person told us how they were able to attend church, which meant they could keep in contact with people they’d known for a long time. Staff also encouraged people to complete tasks independently.
The full reports are published on CQC’s website:
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