Care firm Jeesal criticised further over another Norfolk home

Lila's House, in Cromer, Norfolk, received the rating in a Care Quality Commission inspection

A company that ran a private hospital criticised over the deaths of three patients has had another of its residential homes rated as inadequate.

Lila's House, in Cromer, Norfolk, run by Jeesal Residential Care Services, received the rating in a Care Quality Commission inspection.

It follows the closure of Jeesal Cawston Park, Norfolk, after the deaths of Ben King, Joanna Bailey and Nicholas Briant between 2018 and 2020.

The company has been asked for comment.

Last month a report said the deaths of the three patients at Jeesal Cawston Park should prompt a review to prevent further "lethal outcomes".

Lila's House is a residential care home providing personal care to six people with learning disabilities and autism.

Following an inspection in August, the CQC published a report rating the unit as inadequate in three areas: patient safety, leadership and effectiveness.

It was rated good at caring and being responsive to patients.

The report said people in the home were at risk of harm due to a lack of effective systems.

Staff lacked knowledge and did not follow care plans and risk assessments, while infection prevention control measures were not effective.

Living conditions were not acceptable and posed a risk to people's safety and comfort, the report said.

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In addition, patients were not always shown respect and there was a lack of meaningful activities available.

"The registered manager and provider did not promote the principles of right support, right care, right culture, which meant staff were not knowledgeable in how to truly support people to have an empowered life," said the report.

However, inspectors praised the professionals involved in supporting residents and felt the registered manager engaged when required.

People and relatives felt happy with the staff that supported them.

In 2017, when the home was last inspected, it received an overall rating of good.

Inspectors said they had taken into account the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the home when making their assessment.

Lila's House has six months to improve.

Last month, in response to the coroner's concerns about Mr King's death at Jeesal Cawston Park, the firm said not all lessons learned would apply to its residential homes.

Earlier in October, two Norfolk Jeesal-run care homes for vulnerable people - Creswick House in Fakenham and Treehaven Rants in Cromer - were rated as requiring improvement and inadequate respectively.