A Broadstairs residential home has been placed in special measures following an unannounced inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
Wychdene home in Callis Court Road is run by Mylan Limited. It is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for 24 older people. There were 19 people living in the service at the time of the inspection on March 29.
The inspection team spoke with 12 people who lived in the service and with six relatives. They also spoke with four care staff and the registered manager.
Wychdene was rated as Inadequate for safety, effectiveness and leadership. It was rated as requires improvement for caring and responsiveness.
Previous inspection
At the last inspection in July 2017 the overall rating of the service was, ‘Requires Improvement’. Inspectors had found found five breaches of the regulations, including shortfalls in the arrangements made to manage medicines, a lack of suitable arrangements to obtain people’s consent to the care they received and oversights in the maintenance of the accommodation.
Inspectors said people did not always receive care in a way that promoted their dignity.
Latest inspection
In the latest inspection only one of these breaches, making arrangements to obtain people’s consent for the care and treatment they received, had been addressed.
CQC Inspectors said people were not consistently receiving safe care and treatment and were not always cared for in a way that promoted their dignity.
Background checks had also not been completed in the right way before new care staff were appointed.
The CQC report, published this month, says the service is not well led and that staff had not been fully supported to provide care in a way that always promoted people’s privacy and dignity.
Praise for staff
But staff were praised for promoting positive outomes for residents.
People told inspectors they felt safe when in the company of staff. One of them said, “It’s okay here, a bit rough around the edges but homely.” Another person commented, “I do feel safe now that I am here, the staff are here to help you know and they let us know that.” Relatives told the team they were confident that their family members were safe. One of them remarked, “I chose this place from all of the ones we saw because it felt right. The décor is poor but the staff are excellent.”
One resident said: “The staff help me how I like it. They don’t take over and they know what I like to do for myself.” Relatives were also positive about the amount of help their family members received. One said: “I can see for myself that my family member is always well dressed in clean matching clothes and their hair is neat. These are things that are important to my family member and they’re signs to me that the care is right.”
Leaking skylight
The poor quality accommodation was highlighted in the report with inspectors saying: “In one of the hallways the skylight was leaking and over time the wooden casing had started to rot away creating the risk that parts of it would fall onto people as they walked underneath it. There was also a leak in the conservatory that had been crudely repaired using sticky tape. Five bedroom doors were scratched and marked and throughout the accommodation furniture was old, mismatched and poorly maintained.
“In one bedroom there was a large hole in the wooden door surround. The sides of the hole were rough resulting in the risk that people would get splinters in their skin. The garden was not an attractive space. This was because it had been used to store two soiled mattresses and broken furniture that was piled up in two places that were near to paths designed to be used by people who lived in the service.”
What happens next
Services in special measures will be kept under review and, if the CQC has not taken immediate action to propose to cancel the registered persons’ registration of the service, will be inspected again within six months.
If not enough improvement is made within this timeframe the CQC will begin the process of preventing the registered persons from operating the service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve. This service will continue to be kept under review and, if needed, could be escalated to urgent enforcement action.