Hygiene lacking at ‘inadequate’ care home
INSPECTORS PLACE WILLOW TREE IN SPECIAL MEASURES
INFECTION prevention was “poor” at a Nottinghamshire care home health inspectors have dubbed “inadequate”.
The Care Quality Commission said it “did not see good hand hygiene practices” at Willow Tree House, Mansfield – even though Government guidance “is clear and has been throughout the pandemic”.
Willow Tree provides personal care for up to 60 people aged 65 and over. At the time of the January inspection, there were 39 users.
Inspectors have now placed The home, in Sutton Road, in special measures.
In its report, the CQC says: “We found that management of pressure care was inadequate. Skin integrity was not regularly checked and recorded and so there was no oversight of improvement or further deterioration.
“Infection prevention and control was poor and there was no oversight with regard to the cleanliness of the premises or equipment.
“PPE was not always worn effectively and appropriately, and we did not see good hand hygiene practices even though Government guidance is clear and has been throughout the pandemic.
“Staff were not kept up to date with training. That meant that they were not receiving information on changing practices with regard to delivering care.
“There was insufficient staffing to ensure that people’s needs were met. There was no accurate and up-to-date dependency assessment in order to calculate staffing levels in ratio to people’s needs.”
A spokesperson for the care home responded: “Due to difficulties experienced by all care homes and professionals during the current pandemic, problems arose in relation to documentation.
“We have been working closely with the CQC and local authority, resulting in the return to previous good practice.”
The CQC added: “We will be in contact with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least ‘good.’
“We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
“The overall rating for this service is ‘inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures.’ This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will reinspect within six months to check for significant improvements.”