Macclesfield care home put in special measures over safety fears

Inspectors have demanded "rapid improvement" from the Macclesfield care home

A care home with faulty alert buttons has been put into special measures after managers failed to protect residents at high risk of falls, inspectors have said.

Riseley House Care Home in Macclesfield has been downgraded to inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Inspectors found repeated safety breaches at the home run by Laurel Bank Residential Care Home Limited.

Care home owner Edmund Carley said improvements were under way.

He said "swift action" had been taken to employ consultants and use new software to improve care at the home under an "ongoing programme of investment".

'Widespread shortfalls'

Karen Knapton of the CQC said an inspection in January found residents were at "continued risk of harm".

Twenty-two people were living at the home, which cares for older people and adults with dementia, as well as those being rehabilitated after being discharged from hospital.

Inspectors found "widespread shortfalls" in leadership, with no CQC registered manager at the site, adding the risk to harm had "increased" since the last visit by the watchdog in 2023.

Risks and safety were "not sufficiently managed", the lift was not serviced, and residents were not assessed under mental health regulations to see if they had "capacity to make decisions about their care", they said.

Ms Knapton, the regulator's deputy director of operations in the north of England, said bosses at the home had failed to act on problems highlighted at the previous inspection last year.

These included safety issues, lack of detailed and consistent records, unsafe medicine storage, poor reporting of falls and ineffective equipment used to monitor residents at risk of falling.

The CQC has served two warning notices calling on the provider to ensure good governance systems are put in place, and safe care is provided.

But some residents shared positive feedback about the staff, and the home's relationship with the local GP surgery and hospital was praised.

Ms Knapton said the home's bosses had been told to oversee "rapid, widespread improvements" before inspectors return within six months.

The CQC "won't hesitate to take further action if people aren't receiving the high level of care they deserve", she said.

Mr Carley said he expected the improvements being made at the home would be highlighted in the next CQC inspection and he was "confident the team is delivering care to a high standard".

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