Struck off nurse 'took lead role' in care home

A nurse was found to have been working at Sandrock Nursing Home despite having been struck off by the NMC

A nurse who had been struck off was found to be "taking a lead role" in managing a failing Wirral care home.

Sandrock Nursing Home in Wallasey was rated inadequate by watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after an inspection in April.

Inspectors said they could not find a registered manager for the service and staff there did not seem to know who was running it day-to-day.

Owners Prasur Investments Ltd, which is run by a doctor who was suspended from practising medicine for three months in 2017, has since sold the business.

'Strong evidence'

Prasur Investments is run by Dr Srinivas Rao Dharmana, a GP in Merseyside who was found to have been prescribing methadone, a Class C controlled drug, to a family member.

The CQC said it would have carried out further regulatory action against Prasur Investments if had continued to run the service.

In an inspection report published on Friday the CQC said its inspectors had been introduced to a "matron" referred to as the "administrator".

The nurse was described as holding lead responsibilities in dignity, diabetes, infection control, medicines and end of life care.

The report stated: "Although we could not confirm if this person was managing the service we have strong evidence to suggest this member of staff was taking a lead role in all aspects of the service."

A look into the nurse's background confirmed she had been banned from practising by regulator the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) - although it did not confirm why she had been sanctioned.

Risk of abuse

"The provider had failed to employ suitably qualified staff at Sandrock Nursing Home putting service users at risk of avoidable harm", the CQC said.

The inspection also found the service had not addressed safety issues within the home or its outside areas which had been raised by CQC at previous inspections.

Residents were at risk of abuse because the service was not always following safeguarding processes, it said.

There was also no evidence of a medicines policy in place.

The home has since been purchased by Frank Care Ltd who are in the process of taking over the day-to-day management.