Care home in special measures after inspection

The home was visited between April and June, the CQC said

A care home where inspectors found residents were neglected and which had a discriminatory culture against some foreign workers has been placed in special measures.

The Moorings Retirement Home in Cowes on the Isle of Wight was rated inadequate and was found to have breached eight regulations when the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited between April and June.

Inspectors said there was a "constant smell of urine" in the home's hallway but that it was not highlighted in an infection prevention audit.

The home's owners said it immediately changed its manager following the inspection and its new one was working closely with the CQC to make required changes.

One resident had gauze placed inside their hand but staff were unaware of how long it had been there and the fabric had "discolouration and [an] offensive odour".

Inspectors said that amounted to "neglect through the omissions of care" and found some equipment, including wheelchairs, were rusty or smelled of urine.

At the home's last inspection in 2022 it was given a rating of good.

'Poor culture'

It had capacity to look after 40 people and 38 people were living there at the time of this year's inspection.

But it was found to have a "poor culture" and that some staff used inappropriate language to refer to residents, which showed they were seen as a "set of tasks rather than individuals".

Despite the home's "diverse workforce", the CQC said its culture discriminated against staff employed from overseas on a sponsor licence.

Rotas showed they worked 12-hour shifts and a mixture of days and nights for over seven days without a day off.

But other workers did not have the same working pattern, the regulator said.

"The new manager is working closely with CQC and the staff to ensure the situation is addressed in a timely way," a spokesperson for The Moorings Care Ltd said.

"We would like to reassure our clients and families of our attention to this unsatisfactory situation and we are aiming to quickly turn things around."