Care home in special measures after inspection

High Lea House in Oswestry has been put into special measures following an inadequate inspection

A care home has been rated inadequate after inspectors found falls were not investigated, water temperature was left unchecked and pipework was not covered.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) also observed a staff member at High Lea House in Oswestry serving unsafe food to a resident at risk of choking, following an inspection in December.

The home, which cared for 23 over 65s at the time, was given an inadequate rating, placed in special measures and will be kept under review.

Care home spokesperson Yvonne Wakefield said, "some practical issues and recording systems needed changing or updating. We have worked on this for the past four months and feel we now meet CQC current expectations."

'Upsetting after 40 years of good reports'

Amanda Lyndon, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said: "We were disappointed to find that the quality of the service provided by High Lea House had deteriorated since our previous visit.

"People didn't always receive safe care and treatment. While the people we spoke to were generally pleased with the care they received, we found that the service often failed to provide care and treatment that met expected standards.

"Our inspection team found that leaders didn't always investigate incidents to identify areas of learning and improvement. One person had fallen ten times, but staff only investigated one of those falls.

"High Lea House didn't maintain the home's environment to a safe standard. For example, management hadn't protected people from the risk of burns and scalds because they didn't check that hot water taps were at a safe temperature, and pipework was uncovered in several locations," she added.

Miss Wakefield, who runs the home, said the work required has been completed and "we are just waiting for a further CQC inspection to confirm this.

"Needless to say it is upsetting that this has happened after 40 years, during which we have always had good CQC reports."