The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Trentham Care Centre in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, inadequate and placed it in special measures following an inspection in May.
The focused inspection was carried out to follow-up on concerns raised at the previous inspection and due to concerns raised with the commission. Inspectors looked at the areas of safe, caring and well-led.
Trentham Care Centre, ran by Nightingale Group Limited, is a large care home providing personal and nursing care to 155 people, some of whom are living with dementia or have physical disabilities.
Following this inspection, the overall care home rating has dropped from requires improvement to inadequate and the service has been placed in special measures. The service was rated inadequate for being safe, caring and well-led.
Amanda Lyndon, CQC’s head of adult social care inspection, said:
“When we inspected Trentham Care Centre, we found a service where the standard of care had deteriorated since our last inspection.
“We saw people being treated in a disrespectful and degrading way. For example, one person who required support with meals was sat with a staff member who didn’t communicate with them. The male staff member then proceeded to wipe down the female's chest area without seeking permission. The lady became distressed, so we had to intervene and get another staff member to help.
“It was very concerning that people’s health needs were not being met. There were lengthy gaps in repositioning people in bed who were at high risk of getting pressure sores which put them at risk of avoidable skin damage.
“Another person with type one diabetes told us they were often given cakes and that staff didn’t know how to manage their condition.
“We saw staff engaging in unsafe practice when supporting people. For example, one person was being moved in a wheelchair with their foot dragging across the floor as staff hadn’t used the footplates. This could have injured the person had we not intervened.
“We will continue to monitor Trentham Care Centre closely to ensure people are safe. If we are not assured people are receiving safe care, we will not hesitate to take action.”
Inspectors found:
- People were not consistently supported by suitably qualified or experienced staff
- The provider did not have effective systems in place to learn lessons when things went wrong
- People were not safe as the provider failed to consistently assess, monitor or mitigate risks to their safety
- Medicines were not managed safely. The audit of the medicine administration records (MAR) showed some discrepancies between the quantity of medicines found and the administration records
- The provider could not provide assurances staff members had received training on how to recognise or respond to safeguarding concerns
- There were no effective systems in place to record staff training
- People did not have their privacy promoted or supported by staff
- Some care and support plans referred to the wrong name and changed reference between gender types.