Spilsby care home under special measures after CQC inspection

The inspection heard a report that one staff member had "punished" a resident

A care home in Lincolnshire has been placed under special measures after a report of patients being "punished".

Welham House in Spilsby was also downgraded from "good" to "adequate" by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following its inspection in September.

The home provides residential care for up to 14 people, including those with autism or a learning disability.

Boulevard Care, owner of Welham House, said it was "disappointed" by the downgrade and "committed to improving".

At the time of the inspection 13 people were living at the facility, mainly patients with a learning disability, the CQC report said.

Findings included residents being "disproportionately physically restrained" and "punished", staff members too afraid to challenge others and a "closed culture" that discouraged relatives from raising concerns.

Welham House has also declined from "good" to "requires improvement" for being effective, caring and responsive, the report added.

The CQC's special measures means the home must make "rapid and widespread improvements" and will be kept under close review and re-inspected to check on the progress of those improvements.

Rebecca Bauers, CQC's director for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said: "When we inspected Welham House staff didn't know how to respond to people in distress and there was no guidance for staff about how to use less restrictive approaches in the first instance.

"This is unacceptable and needs addressing immediately.

"Also, one person told us how a member of staff would get angry and punish them, with the justification that it was to help them learn to control their behaviour.

"This is an infringement on people's human rights."

Boulevard managing director, Martin Johnson, said: "We look forward to a further inspection over the coming months where we believe the CQC will see positive changes that have already commenced and we will be able to evidence further improvements from the measures put in place."