Potential abuse was not being investigated properly, according to commission report

A CARE home has vowed to introduce major changes after inspectors found abuse allegations and ‘unexplained’ injuries weren’t being investigated properly.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said people living at The Old Vicarage Residential Home, in Tean, were being failed by poor management, lax procedures and inadequately trained staff.

It has since placed the home in special measures and taken urgent enforcement action to address a series of concerns about safety and care.

Now a new experienced manager, Matthew Proctor, has been appointed to transform the privately-run home. He said: “There will be significant changes to get the service to where it needs to be.

“We are dealing with all the concerns in the report and are working closely with the local authority to fix it together. It’s a partnership approach.”

Mr Proctor stressed measures have been introduced to ensure potential abuse cases are identified and referred to the relevant authorities.

The CQC inspection was triggered in part by the case of one resident who suffered abuse.

They had not received an apology or written information about how their case was being handled. Staffordshire County Council investigated the incident and passed on its findings to the regulator.

The CQC report states: “We found the registered manager still lacked knowledge and understanding of safeguarding adults procedures and had still not taken action to ensure people were safeguarded from potential abuse.”

Another case, logged in daily records, revealed someone had assaulted other people at the home ‘on more than one occasion.’

Yet no referral had been made, despite care providers having to notify their local authority and the CQC of any abuse.

The accident book also contained a number of unexplained injuries, such as bleeding, a cut to the bridge of a nose, scratches and skin tears.

There was no indication whether these had been officially reported and investigated.

The CQC unannounced inspection was carried out at the end of July, but the report wasn’t published until December.

It identified ‘significant shortfalls in care,’ along with several breaches of the Health and Social Care Act. Issues included the administration of medicines, inadequate risk assessments, lack of equipment such as hoists, and gaps in staff training.

There were also concerns over getting residents’ consent for care and mental capacity assessments.

But the report added: “People told us that staff were friendly and treated them with kindness and compassion.”

The Old Vicarage, which at the time of the inspection had 15 residents, is owned by Viomar Care Homes Ltd.