Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Care home failed to meet essential safety standards, say inspectors

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors visited September Lodge, at Goonhavern, and found it had breached six essential standards.

It was given until mid-April to make the improvements outlined by the CQC following the November inspection.

Managing director of the home, Joe Pyrah , said the breaches related to its paper-free record-keeping and not its staff's ability or service.

The inspectors stated that staff at the home, which opened last spring and cares for five young adults, did not have the knowledge or skills needed to deal with challenging behaviour.

It also found insufficient record-keeping regarding health and safety precautions and the administration of medicines.

Inspectors also found that there were no records relating to background checks on staff with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) to ensure they did not have criminal records, or were deemed appropriate to work in a caring role.

It also noted that money spent by residents was not being properly accounted.

"Although unaccounted money was relatively small (£1.50) we are concerned that the system in operation is not effective.

"We also were not presented with records regarding savings/disability benefit income to ensure that all financial transactions on behalf of the person are transparent," it said.

Mr Pyrah attributed the failures on teething problems of its "cutting edge" paper-free management system.

"As a business we grew very quickly from having just five staff to 60 (across four homes)," he said. "The issues are mainly with gaps in record-keeping.

"A lot of our information was in a backlog waiting to be scanned onto the computer and was not available for the inspectors to check."

He said its computer records were now up to date and that all its staff had been given training to deal with challenging behaviour as well as undergone checks with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and ISA.

"The computer system will enable us to be more transparent. Families and organisations will be able to scrutinise what we do more closely as well as keeping up to date with how the residents are doing.

"The CQC inspection was an acid test into how it is working. It shows how much information needs collating. It will help us provide better quality care," he added.

From the This is Cornwall Website. To view please follow this link: http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/blamed-failings-care-home/story-15244234-detail/story.html

Topics: Care Homes