Care home had incontinence pads littered in garden

The home's management has been criticised by the CQC

An "inadequate" care home where people in pain did not have call bells answered and discarded incontinence pads littered its garden areas is to remain in special measures.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has again rated Stonedale Lodge in Croxteth, Liverpool, inadequate and taken "further action to protect people" after an unannounced inspection in November.

CQC said the follow-up inspection was checking if improvements the care home was told to make in July 2024 had taken place and to assess risks such as having no registered manager.

A statement from Advinia Care Homes Limited said: "The safety and wellbeing of our residents is – and always will be – our highest priority."

The CQC report said relatives reported their loved ones' personal belongings had gone missing and "Stonedale's own processes highlighted concerns around this and people's finances, but this wasn't investigated or referred onto other relevant agencies for investigation at the time of the inspection."

Its inspectors identified four breaches of regulations relating to person-centred care, safe care and treatment, safeguarding, and how well the service was being managed.

The commission said it has begun the process of taking regulatory action to address the concerns if rapid and widespread improvements did not happen.

Karen Knapton, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said: "It's disappointing that despite our previous inspection of Stonedale Lodge highlighting exactly where improvements were needed, leaders had not done this, and in fact we found areas of deterioration.

'Discarded PPE'

"People told us they didn't always feel safe at the home, and both leaders and staff failed to recognise potential safeguarding concerns exposing people to the risk of neglect and abuse.

"This was reflected in what relatives told us about them not being informed about incidents that had ended up with people in hospital or sustaining an injury."

Stonedale's communication with people was poor and relatives said they frequently heard important information about their loved one from outside agencies, such as hospitals or the local authority, rather than the home.

Staff had incorrectly fitted bedrail protectors, and did not respond to call bells "when people were in pain and distressed".

Among the issues, inspectors also found that staff did not always "store, record or administer medicines safely", while garden areas were unsafe and unclean, with discarded cigarette butts, incontinence pads and used personal protective equipment scattered around.

Advinia said it was "disappointed" the CQC published a report based on an inspection "carried out more than five months ago".

It added: "Since that time, we have implemented a comprehensive improvement plan with the support of our dedicated staff and local authority partners. These efforts have already delivered significant and sustainable progress across Stonedale Lodge."