‘Short-staffed’ care home rated ‘inadequate’ by CQC
PANDEMIC AND ‘NATIONAL CRISIS’ IN RECRUITING CARERS BLAMED
A CARE home in Sherwood has been rated “inadequate” by the health watchdog.
Clarendon Court Care Home, which cares for 38 people in Clumber Avenue, accepted it was not “up to scratch” but said it had struggled due to the effects of Covid and a staffing “crisis”.
The care home was set up five years ago at a cost of £3.5 million.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) lowered the home from “requires improvement” in its latest report published on April 29.
The CQC said that both staff and residents felt there were not enough workers at the home.
Residents said staff were caring and kind, according to the report, however inspectors pointed out low numbers “left people at potential risk”.
The report reads: “One relative told us, ‘There are not sufficient staff, and very short-staffed at the weekend. They use a lot of agency staff.’ This relative felt the lack of staff had impacted on the time allocated to their family member.”
The CQC also said people living at the service were not always receiving their medicines safely and they were not protected from the risk of infection. Inspectors also found poor infection control practice at the service and that staff were not recruited safely.
Jhangir Akhtar, a director at the home told the Post that “like most care homes” Clarendon Court had struggled over the last two years because of the pandemic.
“Staffing is the one area where we are no different,” he said.
“In the last year or so Covid hit our home twice. We’ve lost staff and residents too. There’s been a national crisis in recruiting care staff.
“If you put that together it proves why this home has gone down. We have done everything we can but it has had an impact on the whole service.”
Mr Aktar assured that improvements have been made since the inspection on February 16.
He said a deputy manager had been recruited and the service has more of its own staff as opposed to agency workers.
“There’s still a lot more to do to get it back up to scratch,” he continued.
“Residents are very safe, they’re being looked after and we haven’t had any complaints.
“The home has been improving but I’m not going to say it is completely there just yet.
“I’m hoping by the next inspection we see improvements.”