Care home regime ‘amounted to a form of abuse’

The regime at a mental health care home in Ashford “amounted to a form of abuse”, according to a damning new report.

Sycamore Lodge, a specialist care home in Faversham Road, Ashford, has been rated inadequate following an unannounced inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), carried out in response to concerns raised by safeguarding authority members.

It has now been placed into special measures following the investigation in April.

The centre is registered to provide personal care and accommodation for people with mental health conditions and during the inspection, four people were using the service including those with schizo- phrenia and bi-polar conditions. The centre had been previously inspected in June 2016, when it was rated good but in April CQC investigators found “inappropriately restrictive practices and culture which led to a number of breaches of regulation”.

The report states: “People told us they did not always feel safe and that staff were not always supportive to them.

“People were unfairly and inappropriately restricted in what they could do and where they could go.

“All people were adults and had capacity to make their own decisions but staff did not appreciate that the regime within the service amounted to a form of abuse. There were not enough staff to meet people’s needs and specialist training about mental health conditions had been ineffective.

“Consent had not been sought from people in some areas of their care and support. Decisions were made for them even though the provider told us that people all had capacity to make their own choices. People were not treated with dignity or respect and their independence was not promoted.

“Support was not delivered in a person-centred way and some restrictions were applied in a ‘blanket’ manner to all people, without considering them as individuals. Activity choices were limited and repetitive and did not take account of preferences.”

In addition the report notes weak recruitment practices and limited food and drink choice and times. The service will now be kept under review.

To read the full report, visit www.cqc.org.uk.

‘People were not treated with dignity or respect... support was not delivered’