Bramwell Care Home: CQC report raises staffing concerns

Bramwell was one of six homes sold by Nottinghamshire County Council

Serious concerns have been raised by inspectors about staffing at a care home which was recently sold by Nottinghamshire County Council.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out the inspection at Bramwell Care Home, in Bramcote, after concerns were raised about patient safety.

Inspectors said the care home had failed to meet all of the five "essential standards".

Owner Runwood Homes said improvements had been made since the inspection.

The independent watchdog carried out the inspection on 29 June.

Its report said: "We visited the location to carry out a planned review. We had also received some concerning information in respect of the quality of care delivered to people using the service.

"Although the atmosphere was calm and staff were attentive to people's needs, we saw there were periods of time when people who needed to be were unsupervised.

Agency staff

"There were several times when there were no staff around in the communal areas as they were busy supporting other people with their needs.

"There were not always enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet people's needs."

Inspectors also found residents did not always experience care, treatment and support that met their needs and protected their rights.

Roger Sinden, of Bramwell Homes, said: "I do not claim that the transfer went completely smoothly - the manager at Bramwell retired, the home for a short period lacked effective management and leadership.

"Since then we have got a new manager in place. We did use agency staff in the short-term but we've now built up a staffing bank and the position's a lot more effective."

Bramwell was one of six homes controversially sold by the council earlier this year.

The Conservative-run authority sold the homes for £2.5m to private firm Runwood Homes.

More than 2,500 people signed a petition opposing the sale which was agreed in September 2011.