Care home residents left at risk of harm - report

The Care Quality Commission says it is "closely monitoring" the Wall Hill Care Home in Leek

A Staffordshire care home has been placed in "special measures" after an inspection revealed it had admitted residents it was not registered to care for.

It comes after The Wall Hill Care Home in Leek was rated inadequate in May, following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) investigation that uncovered how the problem was leaving residents at risk of harm.

Inspectors identified four breaches of regulations related to safe care and treatment, person-centred care, management and safeguarding.

The firm that runs the home, which supports older people and people living with mental health conditions including dementia and physical disabilities, has been approached for comment.

The CQC carried out an inspection to follow up on improvements the home was told to make at its previous inspection.

However, the overall rating for the home has now dropped from "requires improvement" to "inadequate".

'People remain at risk'

CQC bosses said they would now monitor the home closely to ensure people were safe while improvements were made.

"It was disappointing to find that breaches of regulation we identified at the previous inspection of Wall Hill Care Home hadn't been addressed, which meant people remained at risk of harm," said Andy Brand, CQC deputy director of operations in Staffordshire.

He said concerns included a resident threatening multiple others, a person experiencing isolation and a member of staff who had subjected multiple people to poor levels of care.

There were also concerns the home had admitted people with needs it was not registered to support, he added.

These included learning disabilities, autism and substance dependency issues – which meant the home was not complying with its duty to provide people with care in an appropriate setting.

'Relatives promptly informed'

He added that while people were generally happy with their care, the home failed to meet the standards expected by inspectors.

The CQC found staff did not update care plans to fix conflicting information or update them when people's needs or circumstances changed.

One professional described care plans as being very poor, and said they lacked information about people's individual preferences.

However, inspectors found staff treated people with kindness and warmth, and there were people they spoke to who thought there was enough staff on duty to provide support.

The CQC report also stated that staff promptly shared information on changes to resident's health with their relatives.