Treehaven Rants care home owner fined £4,000

Treehaven Rants near Cromer was found to be dirty and unsafe

The owner of a care home for people with autism and learning difficulties has been fined thousands of pounds for not keeping its residents safe.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) imposed a fixed penalty notice on Jeesal Residential Care Services (JRCS), which operates Treehaven Rants near Cromer, Norfolk.

A related Jeesal company also ran a hospital nearby which closed last year after three vulnerable patients died.

JRCS said the home had since improved.

Inspectors visited the home in July 2021 and issued an initial report which detailed a string of concerns over what they discovered.

They found the eight residents were not being protected from the risk of abuse, describing the environment as "unsafe and unsuitable".

The service was rated inadequate across five areas, including safety, effectiveness and leadership.

The CQC has reissued its report with an update on the enforcement measures it took following legal action.

Fines totalling £4,000 were imposed on JRCS in relation to:

• Failing to notify the CQC of the absence of a registered manager

• Failure to alert the regulator following notifiable incidents

• Not operating within the terms of its registration

• Residents not receiving safe care and treatment plus risks not planned for

Last year, the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board issued a report into the deaths of three residents at Cawston Park Hospital, which was operated by a related company called Jeesal Akman Care Corporation.

It found one of them, Ben King, had been assaulted by a staff member shortly before he died, though this did not contribute towards his death.

Jeesal admitted "lessons can be learned" but did not need to result in "sweeping changes" at its residential homes. It said it would no longer run any further hospital services.

A CQC spokesperson said its last inspection of Treehaven Rants identified "several instances where the provider of the service... had not ensured care at the home met standards people have a right to expect".

"This led us to taking enforcement action requiring Jeesal Residential Care Services Limited to take several steps to ensure people's safety," they said.

The CQC said it also served the company a "fixed penalty notice totalling £4,000, due to its failure to meet legal requirements at the home, which it has now paid".

"The home remains in special measures and we are keeping it under close monitoring to ensure people's safety."

In a statement, Jeesal Residential Care Services said: "Since last year's inspection the home has undergone many changes to address the CQC requirements, all of these changes were included in a comprehensive Action Plan, which was shared with the CQC and updated on a regular basis.

"The home has a new management team, and the resident capacity was reduced from twelve individuals to seven.

"In addition, we have spent over £100k upgrading the facilities in order to ensure that the home is aligned to CQC's 'building the right support' principles. We are confident that the home has made sufficient improvements since last year's inspection".

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