Inspectors monitor 'dirty, disrespectful' care home

The care home remains in special measures after its latest inspection

Measures are being taken to protect the welfare of residents of a care home which has once again been rated as inadequate by inspectors.

Hill House, in Ellington, Cambridgeshire, which provides personal care to adults, some of whom have dementia, was placed in special measures in June last year after its first rating of inadequate.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the home had failed to make improvements since the report and had now been referred to the local authority’s safeguarding team.

ADR Care Homes Ltd, which runs Hill House, said it was a "disappointing" result as it had "raised a comprehensive action plan" and changed its management team.

CQC said following its inspection, which took place from March to May, the care home "has again been rated inadequate and will remain in special measures and is now subject to further enforcement action to protect people".

The report found rooms were dirty and mouldy, food was forced into a patient's mouth even though they were choking and a poor care culture had become "normalised".

The inspection of Hill House, which has capacity for 37 people, was prompted in part by concerns the CQC had around potential risks in the service, and to check on the progress of improvements it was told to make following the previous inspection.

However, the home was rated inadequate for all five key areas including how safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led the service was.

Stuart Dunn, CQC's deputy director of operations in the East of England, said: "It is unacceptable to find that the same level of poor care is still being provided to the people who call Hill House home, since our last inspection.

"Leaders have allowed a poor culture to become normalised which was behind a lot of the poor care we saw."

'Rapid improvements' needed

He cited a number of areas of particular concern including the "lack of dignity and respect" shown to residents by staff.

"They talked loudly about people's personal care needs in front of others and used offensive language such as referring to people needing support to eat and drink as feeders instead of by their names," he said.

On another occasion he said a staff member was supporting a person to eat "and continued to put food in their mouth even when they started to choke and cough".

"We have raised this concern with the local authority safeguarding team," he added.

People's rooms were also dirty and mouldy, out of date food was in the kitchen, which was also dirty, and residents' medicines were not properly managed.

However, its report stated that "people and their relatives told CQC they were supported to go to health appointments such as to see their GP and were supported to go to hospital if this was needed".

CQC said it had told the home that it expected to see "rapid and widespread improvements", and the service will "remain in special measures meaning it will be kept under close review by CQC to keep people safe whilst this happens".

CQC has also "taken enforcement action to protect people" but said it was unable to give details of that action at this time.

A spokesperson for managers ADR said: "We are very disappointed to find ourselves with an unsatisfactory report following the recent inspections.

"The findings of CQC were taken extremely seriously. We have raised a comprehensive action plan to address the issues and consequently, [the] management team have been changed, with home improvements undertaken."

They added: "We have been working closely with CQC to ensure the gaps and concerns they have identified are being met with the aim of future assessments reflecting our hard work and commitment to quality of care and safety at Hill House."