Care home apologises after series of failings

Officers said a lack of background checks on agency staff posed "serious risks" to residents

A care home in Jersey has apologised after it was told to stop taking new residents after an inspection found a series of failings.

The Care Commission said in its latest report that a lack of background checks on agency staff posed "serious risks" to residents at L'Hermitage in St Peter.

Inspectors visited several times between February and March and found 11 key areas for improvement, including not having enough staff to meet minimum standards of care, a lack of evidence of appropriate staff induction and supervision, and a lack of storage with evidence of clutter.

L'Hermitage has apologised to residents and their loved ones for the failings identified in the report.

It is part of a UK group of care homes.

In a statement, the company said it was addressing the concerns raised with fresh training, and had recruited two new care managers.

It said it was committed to providing the highest standard of care.

'Lack of respect'

The report said the management style had a "negative impact" on culture in the home, saying "staff spoke of rudeness, lack of respect, and a high staff turnover since the beginning of 2023".

It found staff training in medicines was out of date, posing "potential risks to the health and safety of care receivers", and that staff needed easier access to policies - finding some existing policies were also not relevant to Jersey.

The report also said there was a lack of appropriate fire drills and that staff had failed to notify the commission of two samples of a lung infection found at the home - although these were later found to be false positives.

Positively, inspectors said there was "evidence of a dedicated and caring staff team" and that progress had been made on other areas of concern since previous inspections.

The commission said it would not let L'Hermitage take in any new residents until the 11 areas were addressed.

It said: "Given the findings from this inspection, a discretionary condition to suspend admissions to the home will be applied and the home will be kept under review by the Commission until the areas for improvement are addressed and to ensure compliance with the regulations and standards."