City care home put into special measures

Wellesley House Nursing Home has been told to make urgent improvements but the nursing home said it did not feel the watchdog report was accurate

A nursing home has been placed in special measures after health inspectors said it needed to make "urgent improvements".

Wellesley House Nursing Home in Wolverhampton has been downgraded by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) from requires improvement to inadequate following an inspection in June.

Inspectors found several areas of concern, including that staff did not always respect people's privacy and dignity, did not always have the skills needed to support people safely, and did not store medicines safely.

Wellesley House said it planned to legally challenge the report which it felt did not accurately reflect positive changes and improvements made by the home, resulting in a "flawed" rating.

The residential care home, run by a company of the same name, provides personal care and 33 people were living there at the time of the inspection.

The CQC identified five breaches of regulations relating to safe care and treatment; protecting people from abuse, capacity and consent; and good management.

Wellesley House had its rating downgraded for how safe and well-led the service is from requires improvement to inadequate.

The ratings for how effective, caring and responsive the service is also dropped from good to requires improvement.

It will be kept under close review by the health watchdog while improvements are made.

Andy Brand, from the CQC, said inspectors found Wellesley House had not made all the necessary improvements identified at their previous visit and the quality of care had declined further.

"Usually, when we find poor leadership, it is difficult for a service to provide good care, which is what we found here," he said.

"People and their relatives gave us mixed feedback on life at Wellesley House.

"Some people raised concerns about the time it took staff to support them but others told us staff responded quickly and acted promptly when they were unwell.

"Although people were generally happy with the care they received, we found it wasn't safe and failed to meet expected standards."

He also said leaders did not investigate some incidents at all and failed to identify trends which would have helped them prevent further incidents.

Mr Brand added that inspectors saw staff using incorrect moving and handling techniques to move people, which had been identified as an issue at a previous inspection.

A spokesperson from Wellesley House said it took all feedback from the CQC very seriously.

However, it said the nursing home did not feel the latest report accurately reflected the positive changes made to the home since the CQC's previous visit in November.

They said the latest report highlighted "a great deal" of positive feedback from residents, families, and team members, which did not reflect the grading the home had been given.

"We have therefore submitted detailed feedback to the CQC highlighting the shortcomings in their report and the proof points that underline why we feel their grading – and the action being taken as a result – is flawed," they said.

"We hope the CQC will engage constructively with our concerns, especially given the overwhelmingly positive feedback residents, families, and our team provided to the CQC about their experience at the home."

The home told the BBC it would also legally challenge the report.