Care home with broken ceiling and cat faeces shuts

Seabank House was closed down after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission

A care home for people with disabilities has been shut down after inspectors found it had a “partially collapsed ceiling” and “cat faeces” on the floor.

Seabank House, in Wallasey, Merseyside, has been placed in special measures and rated “inadequate” following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in May.

The facility provided accommodation and personal care to nine autistic people and people with a learning disability, and was supporting seven people at the time of the inspection.

CQC said it “took urgent action to suspend the service” in May, with Wirral Council cancelling their contract and moving its residents to other facilities. The BBC has attempted to contact Seabank House's owner for comment.

“Seabank House remains closed pending a decision from the owner about whether they are able to make the necessary improvements to keep people safe,” CQC added.

CQC’s deputy director of operations in north-west England, Karen Knapton, said at the time of the inspection the care home’s manager was “unaware of the recent safeguarding cases in the home which staff had told us about”.

She added: “We weren’t assured staff were giving people their medicines safely as we found stock discrepancies and incomplete medicine charts.”

'Reported to fire service'

Ms Knapton said inspectors were also concerned about the building’s safety, which had a drop to the driveway from the garden that was only partially covered by a railing, as well as a blocked and unalarmed fire exit.

“We were so concerned about people’s safety in an emergency, we reported Seabank House to the local fire service,” she said.

She also noted the “partially collapsed” ceiling “with insulation hanging down and debris on the floor” and the fact that “open tins of paint were stored next to incontinence products and nutritional supplement drinks”.

“Black mould was also found on the ceiling in the main hall and cat faeces was found on the floor upstairs,” Ms Knapton added.

A Wirral Council spokesperson said: "Poor-quality care services are not acceptable to our communities and, as the commissioning authority, we introduced an overarching policy this year which sets out a robust approach to improving care quality within the regulated services we commission."

They added: “Wirral Council took immediate action to suspend services at this setting, find new, appropriate placements for the residents affected and subsequently cancelled the contract with this organisation.”