Temple Court: 'Degrading treatment' at police probe care home

Temple Court said it had been "completely overwhelmed" by Covid-19

People in a care home at the heart of a police investigation were subjected to "degrading treatment", a report said.

Temple Court care home in Kettering, Northamptonshire was closed in May amid serious concerns following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection.

In a recently published report of that visit, inspectors were told by family members they had seen their relative in bed "covered in dried faeces".

Temple Court said it had been "completely overwhelmed" by Covid-19.

Fifteen of the home's residents died during the pandemic and all 21 people who were there at the time of the inspection were moved out by the end of the second day on 13 May.

Inspectors said that 15 people had been accepted by the provider and registered manager to the home from hospital during the pandemic.

The report said it had "failed to ensure the service had the capacity, systems and processes to safely manage the admission".

A spokesman for the home said: "We are astonished the CQC report has chosen to disregard the reason why standards at Temple Court deteriorated - the home was completely overwhelmed due to the Covid-19 epidemic.

"An influx of residents from the NHS in late March led to an outbreak of Covid-19 which affected existing residents and a large proportion of staff, including the manager and entire senior team.

"This left the home disproportionately reliant on the use of available agency staff, with very little opportunity to adequately train them on our policies and procedures."

Karen Smith has previously spoken of concerns regarding the treatment of her father Roy Hunt, 83, who died in April after contracting Covid-19

One relative told inspectors that staff were "overrun, they were short-staffed and then with the influx of people they couldn't cope."

A staff member added: "Since Christmas all people [had] very high needs. [The] provider did not increase staffing."

The report also found that "people were subject to degrading treatment".

"One person's relative said: 'Sometimes we would visit around 13:30 -14:00. [Family member] was still in bed had been doubly incontinent and was covered in dried faeces'."

The report claimed residents "were not protected from the risks of abuse or unsafe care" and that after community nurses were deployed to the home "a large number of safeguarding referrals were made for people".

The Temple Court spokesman said the home had made "huge progress" following a requires improvement rating by the CQC in June 2019.

He added: "Our priority has always been the wellbeing of our residents and giving them the best care possible, and we are very disappointed that the root cause of the sudden deterioration of standards has simply been swept under the carpet."

A spokeswoman for Northamptonshire Police said the force's investigation was "ongoing further to receipt of additional information from the CQC".