Care home ‘not safely managed’ with ‘dirt on carpets’, say CQC
A report into a care home has revealed potentially dangerous practices at a care home including gaps in fire risk assessment, limited resources, health and safety protocols not being ‘safely managed’ – and also discovered that the carpets ‘had stains or ingrained dirt and a lingering odour.’
And the assessment of people’scapacitytomakedecisions was not in line with the law at Brookfield Residential Home, Care Quality Commission inspectors discovered.
Brookfield, in Alverstoke, was rated ‘requires improvement’ overall due to safety, effectiveness and whether it was well led. The report, published this month, highlighted the lackofdetail,consistency,accuracy and updates on some risk assessment and management plans. It says out-of-date informationwasheldandchangesin people’s needs or their current condition were not recorded. ‘Where someone had lost weight, and their mobility had reduced, their nutritional risk assessmentandpressureulcer risk assessment did not reflect this change,’ the report says.
Regarding the health and safety in the building, inspectors said that they were ‘not safely managed’.
‘A recent fire safety audit by thefireservicehadhighlighted several significant gaps in fire risk assessment and management,includingissueswiththe building and improvements needed in evacuation procedures and carrying out evacuation drills.’
ProtocolssuchasPRN(prescribed as needed medicines) of some people did not contain enough information on their use. ‘Particularly where a person was on several medicines for constipation, or where the dose was variable, staff did not record the reason PRN medicines were given, or if the medicine worked to relieve the symptoms treated.’
The report also indicated thatsomehomeareasrequired maintenance, deep cleaning, and design and decoration adaptation. ‘Some carpets had stains or ingrained dirt and a lingering odour, they required replacement, and there were areas of significant damage to walls, doors and doorframes from equipment.
Brookfield House was issued with two warning notices bytheCQC,onthegroundsthat ‘the provider did not ensure the premises and equipment was clean’ and ‘the provider did not ensure governance and oversight of the running of the service was robust.’