Kentish Express Ashford & District
Care home closes weeks after damning report
A care home has closed suddenly, just weeks after the publication of a critical report by inspectors.
Bramley House, in Bromley Green Road, Ruckinge, closed on Friday, August 21 shortly after the critical report was issued by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Inspectors made an unannounced visit to the home on April 2 this year, a follow-up to a previous inspection in June 2014, where concerns had been raised about a lack of effective management.
The inspectors said that the home, run by Caroline Rooks, of Rooks Care Homes, had failed to deliver an improvement plan and they found further breaches of regulations when they visited.
There were 11 residents in the home at the time of the inspection, some of them with care managed by KCC, and the report noted that the workforce “comprised of new and inexperienced staff” who were not fully aware of patients’ health needs, and who were recruited without thorough checks carried out.
Care records were not updated or absent, which put residents at risk, said the inspectors.
Describing staff as outwardly friendly, the inspectors noted that they “were not always respectful when writing about people in their care”. One resident with incontinence problems was reported as being “like a baby”.
There were not enough activities planned and no provision made for people who chose to stay in their rooms.
Staff training was criticised as inadequate and there were “large gaps” in medicine administration records.
A relative of a man in his 90s who lived at the home said that entertainment was poor.
The anonymous source said: “Staff used to ask patients if they’d like to visit the seaside or take tea and the old ladies said they would love to go out, but they didn’t go anywhere, they just pretended they were at the seaside.”
Following concerns over the relative’s treatment, he was removed to another home.
Inspectors noted positives, including that rooms were personalised and that patients’ privacy was respected, but rated the home inadequate, in all but one category, placing it in special measures.
Rooks runs another care home, Green Hill, in Battle, East Sussex, that is also rated inadequate overall by the CQC.
Caroline Rooks was contacted by the Kentish Express, but did not respond to requests for an interview about the home’s closure.