CARE VILLAGE SAFETY CONCERN UNFOUNDED

Inspectors found no evidence people were at risk of harm

INSPECTORS have visited an extra care village after concerns were raised about residents’ safety.

The Care Quality Commission went to West End Village, in Stoke, to see whether people living there who receive care were being put at risk.

However, a report published following the visit states that the watchdog did not find anything of concern.

The domiciliary service at the London Road complex for over-55s was rated as requiring improvement in May, following an inspection.

But they returned to carry out a ‘targeted inspection’ in September after being contacted with further concerns.

The rating from the previous inspection still stands.

A report states: “We undertook this targeted inspection to follow up on specific concerns which we had received about the service.

“We had received concerns risks to people were not being managed effectively, putting them at risk of harm.

“A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

“CQC have introduced targeted inspections to follow up on warning notices or to check specific concerns.

“They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about.

“Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection.

“This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.

“We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns.”

Following the last full inspection, Green square accord, which took over the running of the complex in late 2019, said it was working on improving the service, but the speed at which changes were implemented was hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Eoin Keogh, operations director for homecare at Greensquare Accord, said: “Although dealing with the challenges of providing care during the pandemic has resulted in a delay in some areas, our management and care teams are fully committed to continuing to make these required improvements.”

The CQC said it will continue to monitor information received about the service until the next inspection.