Mariners Park Care Home: Failings blamed on 'Brexit uncertainties'

Residents were left waiting to go to the toilet for an hour at Mariners Park Care Home

A care home where residents had to "bawl and shout" for help has blamed understaffing caused by "Brexit uncertainties" and economic austerity.

Mariners Park Care Home in Wallasey has been rated as "Requiring Improvement" by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Inspectors said residents had to wait an hour to be taken to the toilet and some were left in bed until midday.

The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) was not always followed to protect vulnerable people's human rights, the CQC said.

Inspectors, who carried out the visit in May, found that staff failed to get proper consent to administer medicine.

'In crisis'

The report also said planning for people with dementia was "poor", and there was "little evidence" that people's end-of-life wishes were discussed.

Welfare Services Manager Mick Howarth told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the social care sector was "in crisis, with many aspects outside of the control of individual care homes".

He said recruitment was "increasingly problematic" because "Brexit uncertainties" had "reduced the numbers of potential recruits".

"There are 40,000 nursing vacancies in the NHS and securing such staff to work in care homes is increasingly challenging, often forcing managers to rely on agency staff," he added.

There were 29 residents at Mariners Park Care home during the inspection.

They were being looked after by nine members of staff in the morning, eight in the afternoon and four at night.

Mr Howarth said this was "significantly above" the hours funded by Wirral Council.

Any excess hours are funded by the care home's charity, The Nautilus Welfare Fund, he said, adding that it had spent £360,000 last year on additional wages.

The care home said it had produced a plan to address the CQC's concerns, including recruiting extra staff, and this had been accepted by the regulator.