Care home resident left alone at table all day

The safety of residents at Restgarth Care Home is to be monitored while improvements are made

A care home resident was left alone in a chair at a breakfast table for nine hours without support, inspectors have revealed.

The failing is included in a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into Restgarth Care Home in Polperro, Cornwall where staff were found to be putting people at "serious risk of harm".

The home has been rated as inadequate, with the CQC taking "urgent action to protect people" following the inspection in September.

Restgarth Care Home said it was taking the report "extremely seriously" and had started "implementing a comprehensive improvement plan".

The home was found to be inadequate for safety, being effective, caring, and in its leadership - and has been banned from admitting new people or re-admitting previous residents without the CQC's permission.

It is the first time the 32-person capacity home has been inspected since it came under the ownership of Orange Care Restgarth Limited.

The CQC's report said it found CCTV footage of one resident being left in a dining room for nine hours, unattended, with "no further support".

Under the special measures, staff are required to make "immediate improvements" to services, and the safety of residents will be "closely monitored" during this time.

'Risk of neglect'

"When we inspected Restgarth Care Home, we found leaders weren't managing the home well putting people at serious risk of harm," said Stefan Kallee, CQC deputy director of adult social care in Cornwall.

"We found people were being left without support for unacceptably long periods during the day," he said.

"Our inspectors reviewed CCTV footage which showed one person was taken to the dining room for breakfast at 9am, then left in their chair until 6pm without any further support.

"This is completely unacceptable and places people at serious risk of neglect and harm."

Mr Kallee added the home's care plans were "incomplete and out of date", saying that staff lacked the information needed to look after residents.

"There was no guidance for staff on how to encourage them to eat, and they hadn't been weighed for two months despite care plans stating this should happen monthly," he said.

"Throughout the inspection, staff told us they felt unable to raise concerns because when they had raised issues previously, these were dismissed or ignored."

The report also details an incident where staff unknowingly gave a person medication containing an animal product despite them saying they were vegetarian.

'Dirty, sticky kitchen'

Inspectors also found evidence of residents being left for long periods of time with no support for continence care.

In addition the kitchen spaces had been left "dirty, with sticky floors and unswept areas".

The report also said was not a permanent manager for the service.

It said: "Managers from two sister homes supported the service remotely but rarely visited. The deputy manager lacked sufficient time to complete essential managerial tasks, such as reviewing care plans."

A spokesperson for Restgarth Care Home said a "strengthened management and support structure" had since been introduced.

"We are fully committed to delivering rapid and sustainable improvements," the home told the BBC.

"Our priority is always the safety, wellbeing, dignity, and quality of life of the people who live at Restgarth."