Care home ordered to pay £200k for Covid failures

Temple Court in Kettering was closed down in May 2020

The company that ran a care home which "catastrophically let down" residents during the Covid pandemic has been ordered to pay more than £200,000.

Temple Court in Kettering, Northamptonshire, was closed in May 2020 amid serious concerns following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection.

A hearing at Northampton Magistrates' Court on Tuesday handed out a £120,000 fine to care provider Amicura Limited.

It also had to pay the CQC's costs of £80,000 and a £181 victim surcharge.

Temple Court said it accepted the sentence and apologised "unreservedly to everyone affected by the failures of our systems and processes in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic".

The court heard during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown in the UK, between late February 2020 and early April 2020, the number of people transferred into the home increased from 25 to 51.

But the provider had not adequately assessed the risk of people living there and there was no manager or assistant manager in place.

All responsibility was given to a senior carer who was left in charge, with only "limited support" from the company, the CQC said.

'Poor systems and processes'

The regulator said the company increased the number of residents "without properly assessing the impact that such an increase would have on the health and safety of everyone living there" and how they were moved around the home.

The CQC report, which followed an inspection in 2020, found that residents were "subjected to degrading treatment" with one "covered in dried faeces" for hours.

Ros Sanderson, the CQC's deputy director of enforcement, said: "The people living at Temple Court Care Home were catastrophically let down by the care provider's poor systems and processes.

"I would hope this prosecution reminds all care providers they must always ensure people's safety and manage risks to their wellbeing.

"The majority of care providers do an excellent job but when they don't, we can and will take action to hold providers to account and protect people."

A spokesman for Temple Court said it was "committed to making significant improvements across the company to ensure that our residents are always safe, supported and well-cared for".

He said that the care home was not failing before the pandemic and accepting patients discharged from hospital in early 2020 "placed incredible strain on our team – leaving many of them overwhelmed, exhausted and themselves ill with the [Covid-19] virus".

The spokesman said this was "unprecedented but that does not excuse what happened and we know we must do better in the future".