Roborough House care home rated inadequate

Inspectors who visited the home for up to 44 people said there were problems with medicines administering

A care home for people with "complex neurological conditions" has been rated inadequate overall by inspectors.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said Roborough House, Plymouth, had a lack of safeguards against abuse and evidence of staff training.

Inspectors who visited the home for up to 44 people said there were problems with administering medicines but staff were "attentive, kind and caring".

Homeowner Caretech said it had a "robust action plan" for improvements,

'Incidents not followed up'

A rating of inadequate by the CQC means the service is performing badly and the CQC has taken enforcement action against the provider.

Roborough House was rated inadequate on safety and leadership and rated requires improvement on effectiveness.

It was also rated good for caring and responsiveness.

The CQC said: "The service did not have suitable safeguarding systems in place to protect people from abuse.

"Safeguarding incidents had not been followed up with the local authority's safeguarding team. Notifications were not sent to the CQC when required to report accidents, incidents and safeguarding concerns."

'Rectify all issues'

It said it would work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress and would monitor information it received about the service, "which will help inform when we next inspect".

It added "people were not safe and were at risk of avoidable harm".

The CQC said that during the inspection in May "we could not be sure all staff had received updated training as no training record was made available".

"We received the training record after a second request. However, no names of staff or dates of training completed was recorded," the CQC said.

"Staff did not always receive regular support or induction training. There was a high use of agency staff."

Roborough House says on its website that it "specialises in providing nursing and personal care for individuals with complex neurological conditions and associated physical disabilities. We also work with people living with mental health issues".

A Caretech spokesperson said: "We take these findings very seriously and are committed to working alongside the CQC, the local authority and other stakeholders to address and rectify all of the issues identified.

"We have put a robust action plan in place to make improvements, and the team is working hard to act on the feedback given."

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