Care home fails in every inspection category

ONE OF Jewish Care’s best-known homes has failed all five elements of a Care Quality Commission inspection.

Rubens House in Finchley was found to require improvement in safety and effectiveness and in being wellled, caring and responsive. It is the worst report a Jewish Care facility has received from the care watchdog.

The CQC revisited the 46-capacity home — opened in 1966 and described as “bright, warm and friendly” on the charity’s website — after an inspection last year found improvement required in the effectiveness and responsiveness categories.

In the latest report, the CQC noted that “care and monitoring records were not sufficiently detailed and accurate” and that residents’ health and care records were “incomplete and inconsistent”.

In addition, “the service lacked systems for safe medicines’ administration.

“Although management felt there were sufficient numbers of staff deployed to meet people’s individual needs, people, their relatives and staff told us there were not enough staff available at all times.

“People’s nutrition and hydration needs were not always met,” the report added.

Two weeks before the inspection, Jewish Care had moved one of its most experienced managers to the home after the departure of the previous incumbent.

In a statement, Neil Taylor, the charity’s director of care and community services, said: “We know this home required improvement and had already put a plan in place to implement the changes required.

“The first task was the recruitment of a suitably strong manager to lead the home, something we have struggled with since our last inspection at Rubens.

“We have now recruited an experienced manager who has achieved good ratings at previous Jewish Care homes. She has already been successful in recruiting additional staff into the management team and has a compre- hensive improvement plan in place.”

Following the previous inspection, “an experienced manager was recruited into the home but she did not complete her probation period. We knew this would be a significant setback to the implementation of our improvement plans.” Rubens House needed “strong leadership”.

Charity bosses have met with residents and their families to explain their plans to turn things around. “We had a constructive meeting with them,” Mr Taylor reported. “Most of the concerns relatives raised were issues already familiar to us.

“There were also relatives who were equally keen to acknowledge the care of the staff, the positive attributes of the home and the impact that, in a short period of time, the new manager has already had.

“This inspection report has validated our plan and brought a sharp focus on the key issues we knew needed addressing. We are confident the new manager and her team will address the issues and transform the home.”

The CQC told the JC that it had considered “enforcement action. The main factor that made us decide not to was that the provider had put a new experienced management team in place and they were already on top of most of the concerns.”

Rubens House would be inspected again in a year — or earlier in the event of “information of concern”.