Kent House care home in Broadstairs has been placed in special measures after receiving an ‘inadequate’ grading from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
An inspection took place in February with the resulting report published on March 29.
Kent House Residential Home provides personal care to up to 25 people. The service supports older people and people living with dementia. A previous inspection in 2017 rated the home as ‘good.’
At the time of the inspection there were 21 people using the service. The CQC inspection found breaches in relation to identifying and managing risks, medicines management, infection prevention and control and safe staff recruitment.
In a summary of the inspection findings the CQC says: “People told us they were happy and felt safe living at Kent House. However, we found the service was not consistently well managed and this left people at risk.
“The registered manager did not know people well and did not have the required oversight of their care. The provider had not achieved their aim of continued improvement and the quality of the service had deteriorated since our last inspection. Checks and audits of the service had not always been effective and some shortfalls we found had not been identified.
“The registered manager had not always completed the required actions to improve the quality and safety of the service. Staff had not always been recruited safely and checks on their character and conduct had not been consistently completed before they worked with people. When concerns had been identified by the provider, action had been planned to address these.
“We did not find people had come to harm at the service however, action had not been consistently planned to protect people from identified risks, including choking, pressure ulcers and epilepsy. Medicines were not always stored or applied safely. People received their medicines when they needed them.
“Infection control risks at the service were not consistently managed. For example, the registered manager allowed people into the building before confirming a negative COVID test result. They were not following national guidance for new people moving into the service and had not assessed and mitigated any risks in relation to this.
“People had been asked for their views of the service and these were positive. Communication from the registered manager was not always clear. People were not always aware of changes at the service. Staff did not have all the information they needed to keep people safe and well. Including how to check pressure relieving equipment was working effectively.
“There were enough staff working at the service to provide the care people needed. People told us staff were kind and caring and they felt safe in their company. Staff worked together as a team and shared their knowledge of people to provide their care consistently. The provider was open and honest about improvements they had identified and the action they were taking to make the improvements.”
The inspection was carried out after concerns were raised regarding leadership. Inspectors examined the areas of safety and how well-led the home was.
An action plan has been requested from Kent House to show what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety and the service will continue to be monitored.
The CQC says: “The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.
“If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service.
“This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration. For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.”
Keele House in Ramsgate, which shares the same ‘nominated’ person responsible for supervising management, also received an overall inadequate grading from the CQC following an inspection last September.
