Leicester: Improvement needed at 'bed bug infested room' care home

Gwendolen Road Care Home looks after 14 residents with mental health conditions and learning disabilities

A care home rated inadequate after inspectors found a "bed bug infested room" still requires improvement.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) placed Gwendolen Road Care Home, in Leicester, in special measures last November.

Following a recent inspection, the CQC said there were still issues surrounding safety at the home and further improvements needed to be made.

The home said it hoped to make further changes before another visit next year.

Last year, inspectors also found "unsecured clinical waste" at the residential care home, which looks after 14 people with mental health conditions and learning disabilities, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

During the latest unannounced visit in January, they found the home was not careful enough with the medicines it was giving to residents.

The report said inspectors found medicines had been opened, but staff had not always recorded the date, or the amount of stock, which left people at "an increased risk of harm".

However, they did find the "staff administered people's medicines safely" and had received "refresher training" after the previous inspection.

'Right direction'

According to the inspectors, management was "inconsistent" and leaders did not "always support the delivery of high quality care".

The CQC added incident analysis was not up to scratch and "people were at risk of not having their care needs met" due to a lack of assessing new resident referrals.

Care home manager Zohie Anwar said the staff were "very pleased" with the inspection as they were no longer rated inadequate, adding "significant improvements have been made."

"The CQC came and saw plenty of changes and told us that we are heading in the right direction," he said.

"We worked our cuts off and hope for a better result next time."