Care service in special measures over safety fears

Cross House provides personal care and support to children and young adults in their own homes

A care service in Beeston has been placed in special measures after it was rated inadequate following an inspection.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected Cross House, which provides personal care and support to children and young adults in their own homes, in May.

The CQC said inspectors identified "significant, widespread concerns about how the service was being run and how safe people were".

Headzpace Therapeutic Care Limited, which runs the service, has been approached for comment.

The CQC said the inspection of the service, which cares for young people with conditions including autism, learning disabilities, or mental health issues, took place after it "received information of concern around poor management", which was "substantiated at inspection".

Craig Howarth, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said: "Leaders failed to provide clear guidance for staff on how to support people with complex health conditions.

"Staff had restrained people but without written guidance, inspectors couldn't determine whether they had restrained people safely in line with their care plan and risk assessment.

"Staff also didn't understand the needs of the people they cared for because they didn't keep care plans updated. This put people at risk of receiving ineffective care."

Action plan

The CQC said although Cross House supports other people, the CQC only looked at the support with personal care that the service provided, as this is the registered activity.

At the time of the inspection, the service supported three people with personal care.

"Relatives had mixed feedback on the care their loved ones received.

"While some appreciated staff had built a good relationship with their relative and leaders provided consistency of carers, others expressed concern staff didn't perform basic tasks well or consider their relative's needs," Mr Howarth added.

The watchdog said it found a breach of regulation related to management and has now asked the service to submit an action plan highlighting how these concerns will be addressed.